Caira and Abe
by Caira D
Summary: Caira and Abe, a short story about their friend ship even though they secretly like each other New chapters coming soon.
1. Chapter 1

Caira and Abe, a story of Hope and Loss

Chapter 1

The moonlight shines down into the pond they are staring at. There's no reason to be staring at it, but the monster is stage 3, so they have nothing else to do. Fish jump out of the water and lightly splash the two in the face, making them laugh softly.

 **Abe's POV**

Caira sits next to me with her grenade launcher in one hand, a pebble in another. She tosses the pebble through the water and it creates ripples, scaring the fish away. She looks down at the pond, waiting for the end to come.

 _This has to end, one way or the other._ "You alright?" I ask her as I stand. "Yes, just worried." "Like everyone else, your life is at risk." I say as I help her to her feet. "Not about that."

"Then what's wrong?" "The monsters, what will they evolve into next?" Caira asks as she grips her grenade launcher tighter. Before Abe can answer, a large rumbling noise starts from the distance.

"Well Caira, get ready for some field research." Caira nods nervously and sets her grenade launcher to napalm. "Hey, watch where your firing those, I'd rather not get napalmed in the ass this time, okay?" I say with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah." Caira says with a hint of laughter. Suddenly a large creature appears. Glowing eyes and glowing orange body that shows the fire moving inside him. Spikes shoot up from his back, while him himself, is about two stories tall.

"Stasis grenade out!" I say as I activate my jetpack and throw my grenades all around the monster. "Fire! He's slowed! And probably pissed!" Parnell jumps into the air and jumps right to the monster while activating his super soldier.

Can't say that I don't worry for him, I do, but man, I am a genius! How did I manage to fix a rage trooper suit? The monster, codename Goliath, breathes out fire and damages Parnell, causing him to fall on his back.

"Not… dead…. Yet." He manages to call out as he jumps back to his feet. "Hold on Parnell! Healing grenades are coming!" She spews out healing grenades at his feet to hold him while our support, Sunny, places a shield drone.

"Drone 424 out! Everyone fight near the cute little drone!" Sunny calls out as she switches to her mini nuke grenade launcher. _More stasis grenades, more shotgun damage, he's out of armor, no casualties, we got this!_

"Tagged him!" I say as my tracking dart hits him in the chest. The Goliath roars fiercely and leap smashes right into Sunny, causing her to go down and land on a cliff hill behind the orbital drill.

"Sunny! I'll get her! Distract the monster!" Caira says as she flies over to Sunny. "Well shit." I mutter as Parnell and I shoot the monster. The Goliath picks up a rock, and he's aiming it at Caira.

 **Caira's POV**

"Sunny! Are you alright?" I call down as I land in front of her damaged body. "I'll liv— Before she says another word Abe screams. "Watch out!" I turn around to see a boulder hurdling straight at me.

"My jetpack!" I yell as I struggle to move. Before I can do anything, Abe jumps in front of the rock and it shatters into pieces, leaving Abe on the ground, half dead. "Abe! Sunny!"

The Goliath suffered so much damage that he runs to the relay, but it's not my problem, all that matters is Abe and Sunny. _He saved me._ "Parnell, get the monster, I'll get these two." I command.

Parnell nods and looks down at his two friends, then jet packs away. I run over to Sunny and revive her, which only leaves Abe. "Thanks! I'll help Parnell. Make sure mustache is okay." Sunny says as she runs to help.

"Abe!" I yell as I approach his body. "Hey." He responds with a cough. "You're welcome." He says in a quiet voice. "You idiot! You should've let me have the rock!" I say with tears building up in my eyes.

He's been my closest friend since the day I got here. He always listened to my theories, he cares about how much I work, he's even funny! "Get up Abe." I say as I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Not even a healing grenade?" he asks with a smirk. I roll my eyes and trigger my healing field. "Let's go mustache." I say as we run towards the relay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Parnell's POV**

Man, why do I have to do all the work around here? I fly after the monster while I hear Sunny getting up and racing after me. The Goliath jumps in front of the relay and punches it right in its center, then starts to rip off small pieces of it. "Ready to work?" Sunny says from behind me. "You bet," I reply as I charge right at it, shotgun ready.

 **Woah wait, who cares about those two? It's all about Caira and Abe, right?**

 **Caira's POV**

"You scare me you know," I say as we follow Sunny towards Parnell. "Is that a bad thing?" Abe says jokingly behind me. I stifle a laugh and switch my grenade launcher to napalm.

The Goliath is roaring in fury as Parnell shoots out all of his shotgun rounds, Sunny is jetpack boosting him and Abe is moving up behind the Goliath to throw stasis grenades. I launch up with my jetpack and fire the napalm while keeping half an eye on my teammates. The Goliath roars again and breathes fire right at me, but Sunny's shield drone protects me from the damage. The Goliath roars again and smashes to shield drone to pieces, but Sunny works fast and places another one. "Shield drone out and charging!" she yells over the furious Goliath.

I switch to healing as the Goliath charges right into Sunny, knocking her over. I fire the healing grenade and Sunny pops back up and fires her mini nuke grenade launcher, throwing the Goliath off balance. The Goliath shifts targets and picks up a rock, throwing it on the now vulnerable Parnell, hitting him and knocking him down. I fly straight towards him as the Goliath starts fighting Abe and Sunny. "Get back in the fight Parnell," I say while triggering the healing field. Abe gets knocked onto the ground, Sunny gets launched out of the building by another rock, and the relay is half finished. "I'll fight, save them fast Caira," Parnell says to me, launching himself back into the fight.

I zip over to Abe and use the healing grenades, then outside to Sunny, but only to see nothing out there. "Sunny?" I call out, hoping that she's not gone. "I'm alright, it's just a scratch," Sunny calls from the right side of me. She's not wrong though, the rock only destroyed her shield drone, but she is not injured. "Caira!" I hear Abe call. I jump back in the fight to see a half dead Parnell and a dead Goliath. "Parnell!" I yell as I land before him. "You'll be alright, I promise."

Later, back at the main ship

Still Caira lol

The TV is off; my bed's sheets are pulled practically all the way to the carpeted ground. My dresser sits in one corner, while my tiny bookshelf full of field guides and space books sits in another corner. I sigh and get up off of the bed and open my door only to find Abe standing there, about to knock. "Oh, hi Abe, what's wrong?" I ask, now worried as I stare at the sad expression on his face. "Oh nothing, just exhausted and just wanted to see if you want to talk," he replies, nearly yawning. "Oh, sure, come on in then."

We walk over to my bed and sit down on the corner, the TV still off in front of us as we just sit there and stare at each other. "Well, Caira you always are in the lab, did you find out anything new?" "Kala explained that they have fusion cores and they convert it to biochemical mass and that's how they evolve. Without any monster samples, like you know, a dead monster, it's hard to find out these kinds of things. Though I don't like having her around, Kala has more experience with these things and has taught me things about them that are so useful, I feel like every day we're getting closer and closer to finding out how they came here" I explain.

"Wow, but here's the real question; how can we help Kala?" he asks, with pity in his eyes. "You go too harsh on her sometimes Caira, she's willing to sacrifice her own life if it means stopping these things, wouldn't you do the same?" I look down at the crossed feet and silently curse at myself. He's not wrong, I am way too harsh and I would do the same. "I don't know how we can help her, she might tear this ship apart if anything happens to her brain, it's already half monster and I don't know how she controls it."

He puts his index finger on my chin and lifts my head up to prevent me from looking down and he sighs. "It's not your fault you know, any of this. You act like it is. Kala made her own choice, and you try your hardest to stop these things with so little resources and have found out so much. Instead of being down on yourself for not finding out something, you should be proud of what you've achieved so far," he says softly. A single tear falls down my cheek and I wipe it away fast. "You're right." He laughs warmly. "Am I ever wrong?" he asks with a grin. I playfully punch his shoulder, but then he looks back at me with a frown. "You're still crying," he complains.

I wipe the tears away like they mean nothing, which in reality, they don't. I am proud of what I've done, I don't need anyone to tell me anything less. Abe smiles again and wraps his arms around me, then pulls me into him for a tight hug. I lean into it and accept every single comfort that's there for the taking. I let out a sigh and we pull away from each other, I almost miss the heat of him. I almost miss the embrace. He stands up and tips his hat for a farewell. "Four more days of fighting and evacuating, then you can get back to catalog and do what you were born to do," he says with a pained look in his eyes. "No, Abe," I start, but he already closed the door.

I slump onto my back in frustration, all he thinks of me as is some rich scientist, nothing more. He doesn't truly care, he only cares about whether or not these things can be stopped, that's the only reason why he comes to me. I throw my pillow across the room and nearly scream. Why am I this hurt? I can't possibly like him, can I? I push the thought away and stand up. I don't need a guy in my life to keep going, I need to focus on my research.

I run through the seemingly endless hallways and finally reach the lab, where Kala stands with a dead monster in the quarantine. "What's going on here?" I ask, approaching Kala. "I'm sorry Caira, Laz and I had to take matters into our own hands," she replies, not looking up from her tablet. "What do you mean?" She puts her dead hand up to silence me and I peek into the room to see Lazarus about to use his glove. "No! You can't!" I scream, but it's too late. He uses it and the monster springs back to life, roaring and hissing in fury. This is the same Goliath that we just killed.

"What's going on here" he doesn't even finish his sentence as he runs up to Kala and nearly tackles her. "What the hell did you do?" he rips the tablet out of her hands and tosses it to me, and I barely make the catch. I look down at the screen and see one thing, written at the top in huge letter. MONSTER TERMINATER TEST 1.

They aren't bringing it back to life to study it, they're testing ways to destroy it. "Abe, stop!" He looks back and throws Kala to the ground, then takes the tablet out of my hand. He reads it and growls. "Why didn't you tell someone about this?" he says in an angered whisper. "Who was there to tell. No one would agree and everyone would just laugh at our idea," Kala says calmly as she stands up without showing even a flinch of pain. "Abe, it doesn't matter, just let them try it." I look up at him only to see nothing but anger in his eyes. "I don't care," Abe says as he turns to walk out. I sigh and follow him, and once we're outside and the door closes, Abe pins me to the hallway wall.

"Caira, you can't possibly agree with this!" I look away from his animal like stare and sigh, gently pushing him away. "Abe, it won't hurt to try a monster terminator, but please go and eat and cool down, you're starting to scare me," I say, still keeping my eyes on the ground. I feel his burning gaze give away and I look up to see his eyes return to his normal, calm yet caring expression. "Are we friends, Caira?" he asks, looking at me with a blank expression.

I look at him in the eyes, and nearly sigh. "I don't know, are we? After this the only thing you'll be doing is bounty hunting." I push away from him and walk all the way back to my room without looking back. It's his turn to feel bad about what he's done.

Before we arrived at Shear, Abe and I were friends for the long couple of months ride here, but now I'm not even sure if he ever wanted to be friends.

LATER (the next morning)

"Caira, please wake up," I hear a voice call to me. I yawn and reluctantly lean up to see Abe looking at me. "What?" I say as I stretch my arms. "I'm sorry Caira, I was so rude to you and probably made you feel like I didn't care about you." "Jee well I wonder what gave you that idea," I say with a roll of my eyes. "Caira! Please, you're such a kind, caring and smart person," he pauses to shift closer to me, and for once I don't back away. "I don't want to lose that," his voice turns to a whisper and I look into his eyes and sigh. "I'm sorry too, I know with Parnell it was stressful and I shouldn't have made it worse." "Well, at least we're friends again, right?" Abe asks. "We never weren't friends Abe, we just had an argument, happens to the best of us," I say with a grin.

He sits down right in front of me on my bed and runs his hand down my cheek and looks straight into my eyes. "I don't want you to get hurt, and quite honestly I think this is the first time I've seen you sleep in a couple of days," he says. "You don't have to worry about me, I can handle myself." "I know; I just still have that urge to protect you. "I know, it's in your nature. You're a caring person, so you want to protect anyone you can," I say. He leans his head closer to me, and I can feel his warm breath, but then the speaker comes on. "Team 5 please come to the dropship for briefing."

I sigh and look at him. "Well looks like I have to wake up now." We stand up and he leaves and heads straight for briefing while I change into my battle clothes and head down to the dropship.

DROPSHIP

"You ready?" Abe asks me as we stand, our hands on the railings, preparing to drop. "Yeah, let's just locate them and get them back. I have a lot of research that has to be done today."

 **Thank you all so much for the positive reviews!** **J**

 **I wanted to write a long chapter for you guys so here it is! Enjoy! I'll get the next chapter in as soon as I can!**

 **Let's just say some more "action" happens the next day ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

FLASHBACK:

"Well what's your deal?" I ask from his door. "What do you mean?" he says with a small smirk. "You seem like you don't like me even though you just met me. What did I do? Is it because I'm from Earth?" He looks up and stares straight at me, nearly causing me to flinch. "I don't trust easily," he says. "Clearly," I whisper. "Look, I know I've said a lot of things about you that were rude, but don't take it personally okay? I pick on everyone."

I let out a sigh and walk into his room and stand in front of him. "You seem interested in my research," I say. "Like everyone else, I want to know how they got here, but if it bothers you with everyone asking," "Oh, no I don't care about that, I was just wondering if it was true," I interrupt. "Alright then," he replies, looking down. "Why are you so grumpy?" I ask.

"Just worried about Parnell man, that rage trooper suit," he pauses and looks up at me. "It'll kill him eventually." I bite my lip and look down. "I know he's your friend, but like everyone else here he's willing to sacrifice himself to stop these things. He knows the risks of that suit, but he doesn't care. All he cares about is fighting and saving," I say, walking closer and gently putting my hand on his shoulder. Abe grins and laughs. "I think a little talk is all I needed Caira. Thank you," he says.

YET ANOTHER FLASHBACK, ONE DAY BEFORE ARRIVIAL AT SHEAR

"Caira?" Abe asks from behind me. He yawns and wakes up slowly, rising from his bed. "What are you doing here?" I ignore him as I keep still and watch the news. "These things haven't been reported yet?" I ask, looking back at him. "I don't keep up with that stuff, now look, not that I don't like you, but can I please have some privacy at like what time is it? Five?"

"Abe, what happens if we fail? What if we let all these people die because we're not good enough?" "Nothing will happen because that won't happen, you have nothing to worry about," he replies.

CURRENT TIME

 _You have nothing to worry about._ The whole rescue mission goes by so fast that I don't even remember setting foot on the ground. Now all of a sudden I'm sitting in the dropship, Abe on my right. Sunny and Parnell are nowhere in sight. "You alright?" he asks me. "I'm fine, where did Sunny and Parnell go?" I ask, looking over at him. "Wow you have a bad memory. They just left to go check on the colonists and get food."

I laugh softly and stand up, and he stands too. "Where are you going this time?" he asks. "Nowhere," I reply as I walk closer to him. He doesn't back away, instead he walks even closer, to the rate where we are chest to chest. "Caira, why? Why are you making me feel so much pain?" He has tears in his eyes. "I'm not going back," I whisper. He slides his hand across my face and looks down. "I'm staying with you until the end of our time," I say, lifting his chin up to look at me.

His tears disappear and his eyes show his joy. "It's kind of obvious now, isn't it?" he says with a gently laugh. "What?" I ask. He looks at me straight in the eye. "We've been friends for this whole journey Caira, and I can't help but stay near you. I love you Caira," Abe says, nearly looking away, but my hand stops him.

"You scare me sometimes Abe," I say with a laugh. "Because I think you are the one who needs sleep if you don't know how much I love you," I say. He looks at me for a split second before leaning down and closing the gap between us.

LOL I'm such a troll aren't I? Well now you guys get to wait another couple days before I publish another chapter :P I'm tired, so now I need to sleep lol.


	4. Chapter 4

**No time for an intro! Let's get riiiiiiigggghhhht into the story! (no that wasn't a parody of the cancer of the internet known as keemstar I promise)**

"Wow," Sunny says, leaning closer to Cabot who is very surprised as well. "Didn't expect that?" Cabot replies with a hint of painful amusement in his voice. Sunny looks at him closely, this is probably the only time she's recalled seeing him sad. "What is it?" Cabot sighs, turning off the security camera, and turns toward her. "The last time I was in love, I lost everything," he says simply, getting out of his chair and stalking off down towards the rest of the crew.

Sunny throws her broken drone onto the desk and turns back on the camera, seeing Caira and Abe this close pains her, knowing that she once had feelings for Abe, but she's happy for them. Though Cabot expressed gratitude towards their new relationship, he also has his doubts. Sunny looks at the camera, her sadness returning. _Caira, as much as you love him, I probably love him more,_ Sunny says in her mind, stalking off after Cabot while plotting her revenge.

Caira's PoV

It all seemed like a blur to me. We stood there, his hands in mine, and we walked off, the taste of each other's lips still there. His warm breath in mine, and we were happy. For the first time, I actually _felt_ happy. He makes me happy, and no one else can see that. Abe's smile refuses to fade and his eyes still exploring my face, with this I laugh. He smiles even brighter and finally takes his eyes off me, opening the door to the next room, where Sunny stands there, pure hatred in her eyes. Her presence sends a shiver down my spine, why is she so enraged? Did she see?

FLASHBACK

I see the camera from the corner of my squinted eyes as he deepens the kiss, my mind says to stop, but I can't bring myself to do it. I love him, and I've waited too long for this to stop because of a camera. I throw my arms around his neck, feeling my back bend more back, almost as if he is going to force me to the ground. My eyes open, awake and alert, the heat of his lips still on my mouth comforts me, but not enough. His heat leaves at once as I fall backwards, but Abe's faster.

He swings his arm around and catches me effortlessly, making me gasp in surprise, and we hold each other's hands, starting to move towards the door.

PRESENT

Sunny's hatred leaves her eyes and happiness replaces it, and with that she smiles at me, though I still give her a questioning look. "I was mad that I couldn't find you guys. Normally it's easy to track down mustache over here," she pauses, pointing her finger at Abe, causing him to laugh, "you can smell him a mile away!" Abe stifles another laugh. "I didn't know I smelled _that_ good kid," he says with amusement in his voice, making me shiver. He looks down at me, sensing my shiver and frowns. "Are you cold?" he asks. "Oops, that's my fault, I turned on the air conditioner since Val kept complaining that she was too warm," Sunny says calmly, though her eyes are full of sympathy. "No, I'm fine, really I am. Just tired, I don't know why I shivered, no need to worry about me," I ramble quietly, almost forgetting that Abe is still staring right at the back of my head.

I look up at his eyes and sigh. "I'm _fine._ Really, I am. I'll just go to bed if you're that worried," I say, louder and more confident than I intended. Sunny's sympathetic stare turns to an amused one. "Come on Abe, trust a lady will ya?" she says with a laugh. "Come on Caira, I'll walk you to your room. Maybe I can even show you the new feature in your lab," she says, smiling brightly. I don't want her to walk me back, I don't need help, but I'll feel guilty if I reject her offer, especially if it has something to do with the lab. I nod and return the smile, stepping forward to follow her. I look back as we move through the doorway and see Abe waving goodbye, and I wave back. Now I can only imagine what will happen next.

Ah, the lab. Where I normally spend ninety-nine percent of time at. The walls are the same white they'll always be, though the walls are much rustier than the last time I've seen them. What the hell happens here when I'm on the battlefield? Is Kala rummaging through all my stuff? I wouldn't blame her though; after all she's looking for answers too. Sunny walks over to a random corner, where my desk happens to be, and puts her fingers gently down on the metal surface. "You know Caira," she starts, picking up a scalpel I used earlier to dissect a Goliath arm. "I never thought that I'd be here with you. Alone, at least," she snickers, turning around in a flash and jumping straight at me, the scalpel aimed for my chest.

I dive to the left, and she lands on the hard floor, and she gasps, swinging her head around and crawling towards me. I get up swiftly, but so does she, and she throws the scalpel into my right shoulder blade, and I scream, pulling it out immediately, and turning around just in time to dodge Sunny's fist. I punch here in the face with my left fist just before she does, and she stumbles, giving me the time I need to dive into her chest, sending her and me to the ground. " _What are you doing!_ " I shout, enraged, and I successfully pin her to the ground, my knees and elbows on her knees and elbows, and hold the scalpel up to her throat, just like my self-defense teacher taught me. I can practically hear her voice in my head. _Caira, you have to be alert at all times, as a woman you are more prone to getting attacked, especially at your age. Watch dark alleys and avoid them if you can, and if someone attacks you, pin them to the ground, but this is self-defense, do not kill him or her. Hold the weapon up to their throat, keep an eye on their hand and knock them out. Run. Just get out of there._

I shake my head, dragging myself out of my memories and focus. "I'm surprised; you didn't need your little special snowflake to come and save you," Sunny hisses from underneath me. I want to smack her, but smacking her would satisfy her. "Well maybe you underestimated me," I snap back. "Is that so?" Sunny says just as Val comes crashing in. "Sunny! What the hell was that!" Val screams, running over to where I have her pinned. Sunny ignores her and turns back to my enraged eyes. "Go ahead, tell your little boyfriend about what I did. He cares too much about me. He'll still care about me." Her voice was almost a plead, as if she planned for this to happen.

"I wasn't going to tell him; I'd much rather get my wound attended to first. Injuries first, talking second." I pretty much quoted my teacher on that one. "Then just let me go!" Sunny pleads. Val whimpers from behind me, almost afraid that I _will_ kill her. Then again, she has the right to fear. Mostly because I _want_ to kill her, but I know I care too much. Just like last time. "You're actually going to do it?" Sunny's voice was a desperate plead now, causing Val to go pale. "Caira?" Val simply asks, looking at my eyes, now filling with tears.

"The last time I let someone go, he tried to murder me again," I said so quietly that I doubt Val heard me. _"What are you doing!" I remember him screaming. "You tried to_ murder _me! Why would I let you go!" I screamed right back. "Because I love you!" he screamed out desperately. And I let him go. And the next night, he injured me so bad that I almost didn't make it. And that night I led him into the woods, and stabbed his legs and made him crawl all the way back to a hospital._

I snap back into reality and see his face on Sunny's. "What?" she hisses, but it doesn't sound like Sunny. It sounds like the man she tried to murder in the woods who she thought was her best friend. And that man was James Parnell.


	5. Chapter 5

"Pacing won't help," Abe says to me as I sigh outside of the hospital doors. "I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean it!" I cry out, louder than intended. "Yes you did. Don't tell me you didn't," Abe says with a kind of hostility he's never spoken to me with before. _She was right. He cares too much._ "Abe! I know I messed up! But if she never fucking attacked me this would've never happened!" I snap right back at him. Why is he being so mean all of a sudden? Is he forgetting that _she_ attacker _me_.

His skin grows paler by the second, but he doesn't reply. He just sits on the small bench and stares at me through enraged eyes. I stop my pacing and turn towards him, returning the stare. He has no right to say what I did was wrong, especially considering the fact that she wounded me more than I did to her. He doesn't own me; he isn't even that important to me. Of course I care a lot about him, but if he keeps turning on me when his friend is in danger when she hurt me first, then maybe he isn't the person I thought he was.

"What's your problem Abe? I hurt her, yes, I'm not saying it wasn't wrong but not like she did any better to me," I say calmly, gently tapping my shoulder wound. "I don't think you understand. If you just got off her none of this arguing would be happening," he says back, just as calm. No. No, no, no, no, no. No way he just said that it was _my_ fault that we're arguing. No. I'm not a toy that he can just beat up. I'm not accepting this. "Fuck you Abe. I stabbed her in the fucking leg you moron! She's less injured than me, not to mention the fact that she _attacked_ me, and you still are yet to ask if I'm okay? Yeah, whatever. Fuck you. I wish I pushed you down and smacked you when you kissed me instead of me kissing back," I say, and walk off, leaving Abe in shock.

ABE'S PoV

I want to call her back. I want to apologize, but I know she won't come back or accept my apologies; especially not after what I just said to her. _Fuck you._ The words rolled off her tongue as if she was dreaming of yelling them to me. I drop my face into my hands but only to bring my head back up when the hospital doors open. Val steps out while sighing, looking off in the direction Caira went. "You're a bitch, you know that, right?" she says gently, sitting down beside me. "She had no other choice, she had the right to stab her. The Sunny you thought you knew is _gone_ Abe. Caira and I saw it; now it's time you need to," Val says, standing up. "She's fine, just as Caira thought she would be, now go apologize before she comes back and punches you." I nod slowly and stand up, not even bothering to look in the room where Sunny is. _The Sunny you thought you knew is_ gone.

CAIRA'S PoV

"I shouldn't have yelled at him like that. He's known her for years and I've known him for months. I would've done the same exact thing. Well, I'd probably ask him if he was _okay,"_ I say to myself in my empty room. "He's still a bitch though, I mean really, he didn't even apologize!" I stand up slowly, about to grab my TV remote from its place but my doorbell rings instead. I sigh and open my door, seeing a very pale Abe standing there. _I won't be a bitch if he's not a bitch,_ I say to myself, _he's panicked, no need to be even harder on him._ "I'm sorry Caira, I should've been more concerned about you. I was just so shocked to hear that she attacked you that I thought that it wasn't real," he explains, tears welling up in his eyes. I give a slight purr of amusement and his head snaps up, the tears in his eyes vanished and his eyebrows slant up, questioning why she laugh.

"I'm sorry too, but I was just telling myself that I would do the same if I was in your shoes," I say, grabbing his arm and pulling him into a hug. "I'm really sorry Caira. I truly am, if ther-" I back away from him, cutting him off mid-sentence and pull his mouth to mine. His heat swells into my face, and though the kiss only lasted a second, I never will forget it. _When you fight with someone you care about, the strong will forgive and use their fight to get to know each other; the weak however, will get over it eventually but will never be the same,_ my instructor said as I left my last self-defense class.

TWO DAYS LATER

"So you tried to kill me just so you can have Abe?" I ask, glad that I decided to go alone to speak to Sunny. "Yes, I did," Sunny replies dryly, her tone is quiet but calm. "I'm sorry Sunny. I truly am. I know how it feels to watch someone you love go with someone else," I reply, suddenly getting yet another memory.

 _Parnell stands there with another girl, passionately kissing one another. I stand there hopelessly watching as he pulls away and says a quiet goodbye, then he starts walking towards me and greets me. I didn't mind. He was happy, but I still felt broken knowing that he belonged to someone else, but I guess that didn't matter though. When I found someone who I liked, Parnell admitted his feelings for me, but the truth is that I turned him down, and he went full on rage mode. He nearly killed my boyfriend and me, but then Hub got him and wiped his memories of all the bad things, so now he only remembers our friendship and how to fight for Hub. It practically killed me knowing that he never remembered admitting his feelings to me, but at least he isn't insane anymore; in fact, he's very smart and wise._

I shake my head again and stare at Sunny through half asleep eyes. "I'm sorry Caira. I don't know what I was thinking," she replies, though her eyes acknowledge the fact that I watched Parnell get ripped from my grasp as he went off to Hub at a very young age. "Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking either," I reply, handing Sunny a glass of water before walking towards the door. "It's midnight Sunny, I'll let you sleep." I hesitate at the door and add, "You know what will happen, right? Cabot will ban you, but I'm sure you don't want that to happen. I'll even fight Cabot's decision for you." "That's very kind Caira, and I can't thank you enough for even talking to me after what I've done, but I'm fine with accepting my punishment," Sunny says, a small grin stretching across her face despite the tears in her eyes.

I nod and smile back. "I'm sorry it had to be this way," Sunny calls as I walk out of the door and start turning to go to my room.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" I shout at the top of my lungs as I see Abe opening my closet door. He shuts it immediately and blushes, turning back towards me. "I wasn't doing anything you thing I was, I promise. I was just looking for the TV remote. I'm not a perv," he says awkwardly while leaping onto my bed. I laugh and take it out from behind the TV. "I know you're not Abe, you just gave me quite a scare. What are you doing here anyway?" I question while handing him the remote. He shrugs, "Couldn't sleep. Came here and found your door open so I came in and saw you weren't here, so I figured I'd keep the place warm for you." I smile and plop down next to him, sighing with relief.

"You talked to Sunny, didn't you?" he says, the smile evaporating from his face. "Yes," I reply, closing my eyes. I open them again to find his hands cupping my face and forcing eyes to his. "She doesn't mean as much as you, I promise," he says. "It's not that, I just wanted to see if she calmed down at all," I reply, then I explain what happened between the two of us. During my explanation he listened very deeply like he always does. He was always listening to me, even when my ideas were stupid. He always stood by me, and that's why he means so much to me. I can talk to him about anything and he won't judge me, he won't hurt me without apologizing soon after, and he certainly won't let anyone or anything hurt me.

He sighs when I finish. "I love you," I whisper, clearly breaking him from his thoughts as his head snaps back up. He laughs calmly. "I love you too."


	6. Chapter 6

SUNNY'S PoV

"Sunny, you know what I'm going to say," Cabot says, sitting down on the chair next to my bed. I look down, tears in my eyes, and sigh. "I'm sorry. Though I know I'll still get banned, I just wanted to have the chance to apologize. I really don't know what I was thinking Cabot," I explain, holding back my tears and looking him in the eye. Cabot sighs, closing his eyes. "I really don't want to do this Sunny." "Why?" I look up at the ceiling, embarrassed that I just asked him that. _Of course you know why stupid!_ "You should know why; I don't want to lose another person, not like this," he says. _Sunny Cabot; his first and only daughter._

"You don't have to Cabot! Just please! Give me another chance! Caira and I have talked, she forgave me and everything!" I plead. Cabot sighs again, clearly hearing his daughter's words in mine. "Sunny, I will let you stay on board if Caira says so, but if she thinks it's a bad idea, then I'm sorry," Cabot says as he stands up and heads for the door. "Thank you for even considering it," I say, my tears vanish from my eyes and gratitude and relief replace them.

CAIRA'S PoV

"Abe?" I ask through half closed eyes, feeling the cold of myself instead of his warmth. "Sorry," a voice says, "But I had to ask him to leave." With a jolt I sit up, recognizing the voice. "Slim!" Relief swells heavily in my voice as I jump off of my bed and run over to where he stands, right near the doorway. "Where the hell were you!" I plead, pulling him into a hug. He laughs, "checking on Sunny. Apparently Cabot will let her stay on board with your permission." My eyes widen, and I pull back from Slim. "Why mine? He's the boss man I shouldn't be making his decisions even if she attacked me," I say calmly. He shrugs, "I'm not in charge of his decisions, but if I was I'd make a milk shake machine on the dropship." I laugh, enjoying every second of my time with him, knowing that it might be our last day together before he goes.

"Where are you going this time?" I ask, pain in my voice. "Don't worry, I'll come back and it won't be for long," he says quietly, clearly hearing the hurt in my voice. "I'm just going to do some field research at an abandoned outpost. Securities still online and no monsters detected in that area, so I'll be fine. Explaining it to Sunny will be the hard part," he says with a sigh. "Why are you always gone? I mean, you come back but only for a day then go again. What can possibly be this important?" I ask. He laughs, " _You_ of all people asking me that question. You spend so much time in that damn lab that when I actually back you're too busy working!"

I sigh out a laugh and look at his huge, bug-like eyes. "I just want to spend more time with you, you know that. It's hard knowing that you might get hurt on one of these trips of yours," I say. Then something crazy happens. He just turns around and walks away.

SLIM'S PoV

"Sunny?" I ask, opening the hospital doors. _Well my visit with Caira went terrible, I can only imagine how this will go._ "Slim!" She jumps out of her bed and hugs me tightly, not letting me move or weaken the embrace. "Glad to see me?" I ask with a grin. "I always am. You're gone so much anymore and it scares me Slim. You're always in sectors that you think there's no monsters around, but what if one day you're wrong and there's a lot of monsters there? What happens then?" she asks, and even from our tight position I can see the tears welling up in her eyes.

"No need to worry about me, I'll know what to do when that time comes," I reply. "No Slim! You don't understand! You think you have no life left just because of what you are now! I won't let you go! You mean too much to me despite how you might act at times. No matter what Slim, I _love_ you!" she cries. I stumble away from her grip and nearly fall on the doorway. _She_ loves _me?_ "Sunny," I start, but what is there to say? She loves me and I love her despite how much I don't want to. "Slim, please just sit this one out, okay?" she asks with clear pain in her voice. "I can't," I start, but I never finish. She just turns away from me and goes back to her bed as if I'm not here anymore. I sigh and turn away. _First Caira, now Sunny. Sunny how blind are you? I can't. I'm doing this for you. I want you to be safe no matter what the cost._

CAIRA'S PoV

Abe walks back into the room about ten minutes after Slim walked away, his stare immediately lands on my frowning face. "Where'd the bug man go?" he asks calmly. I sigh and cross my arms over my chest, staring right at him. "He has a _name_ you know." He chuckles softly, "I know, but it seems as though everyone thinks I have it out for him." I shake my head and let my arms fall stubbornly to my side. "Where do you think he went anyway? He always leaves as soon as he arrives." I sit on the corner of my bed, and like a reflex, Abe comes over and sits next to me. "What happened?" he simply asks. "Many things. Tiny reunion and he leaves to go see Sunny," I say, rolling my eyes. "It feels like the Parnell days again."

"Parnell's not a bad guy," he protests, but I wave him off. "I didn't mean it in a bad way. Slim is my friend Abe and so was Parnell. Just like Parnell, Slim either went crawling to someone else or had somewhere to be." Abe looks down and frowns. "Listen, I know Parnell's your friend, and it's not that I don't like him even though I have every reason to _hate_ him, but really when you look at it, you don't see it happening to you because you're always the person Parnell wants to see." "It's not that, it's just the fact that-" "Caira," a bold voice says from the doorway. I look at the doorway and see him. James Parnell.

 **Hey guys! Sorry for being inactive for that long period of time. I didn't forget about the story don't worry lol. I just wanted to have time to outline all my fan fictions and upcoming fan fictions. Another chapter should be up this week :) Thank you all for your support. And yes! A new couple is coming 3 Slim x Sunny people it will happen! Lol. Anyway I need to start typing the next chapter! Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Caira's PoV**

I can't believe it. He actually came back. Wait what? The fuck do I care? "Fuck off," I snap, turning my back to him. Abe frowns and Parnell doesn't budge, the anger swelling up in his eyes. "I came here to tell you something that you should've known a long time ago," Parnell replies calmly. _Like I care!_ "Then say it," I snap, not turning to face him. That bitch almost murdered me! Why should I talk to him! "Caira, the reason why-" "The reason why you tried to brutally murder me? Yeah, I remember. I don't want to talk about it, and for your own safety I suggest you don't either," I interrupt. "Abe, can I have a minute with her?" "Hell no! Did you not just hear what she just said? Let her calm down and come back later!" Abe snaps, which makes me jump and turn back around. He supported me instead of his best friend?

Parnell frowns but nods, and walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. "Thanks. Sorry about that, I'm just so stressed and seeing him makes it worse," I sigh and plop all the way down on my bed. Abe chuckles softly, "I know, that's why I sent him off." Abe lies down next to me and stares right into my eyes. Of course, knowing me, I get lost in his god damn dark brown eyes. His eyes just make me feel so comfortable. Well, I guess the rest of him does too. "Abe?" I ask to break the silence. "Hmm?" I sigh and move my right hand to put it on his cheek. "What happens when this is over? What happens to us?" Abe's eyes widen. He probably wasn't thinking much about that either. "I-I don't know Caira. Maybe I could come to Earth with you?" he questions. Bad idea. INSANELY bad, bad idea. Parents + boyfriend=disaster! "Uhh, I don't know my parents might disown me for even _looking_ at a guy," I sigh with a hint of amusement in my tone.

"So I assume that they'd do even worse if I were to kiss you right now?" he replies softly. I nod but laugh it off. "I don't give a shit about what they do to me. I love you," I reply. "And you're okay I guess, so I wouldn't mind spending my life with you," he jokes. I playfully punch his arm and smile. I've never been this close to anyone before. I've never felt this much for anyone before in fact. Abe's smile widens as he leans a bit closer. "I'm going to have to put a price on this," I say playfully. His eyebrow shoots up in a questioning look, and I laugh in reply. "Whenever you come into my room, you have to kiss me!" I say in between my laughing fit. He shrugs, "sounds good!" He pulls in closer, but at the last second he whips around a kisses my cheek, and I pull back, confused. "There! I kissed you!" he jokes. "Not funny," I say, holding back the laughter inside me very poorly. "Well, you didn't exactly say _where_ to kiss you," he says in a _duh_ tone. "True," I reply.

"I'm obviously joking," he says, rolling his eyes as he leans in again, this time aiming for the lips. "I laugh as at the last second I return the favor and whip around to kiss his cheek. "Owned!" I laugh. He shrugs. "You got me there," he replies with amusement in his tone. The speaker comes on, causing me to yelp and fall off the bed, but luckily I just laugh. "Caira, Abe. Dropship! Now!" Cabot's angry voice says. "Well, shit," Abe says, helping me up while walking towards the door. "What'd we do this time?" I reply, stifling yet another laugh.

~Dropship~

"Hyde? Griffin? What is this?" I ask as we step inside the dropship. "You two are in _huge_ trouble!" Cabot shouts from around the corner. "What the hell did we do!" Abe yells back. Cabot's face is more red than it has ever been, and I think he might just _kill_ us. "Why are you so angry!" I shout. "You two were caught _stealing_ out of our food supply! Explain yourselves right now!" "What!" Abe shouts in disbelief. "By caught, do you mean you saw _our_ faces on the security cameras!" Cabot nods slowly, tapping on the screen next to him to show us the surveillance. And indeed, our faces were there, in the supply closet. "W-when was this?" I stutter, feeling like I'm going to faint. "Just today, right when Slim walked out," Cabot says calmly. I lean my head against Abe's shoulder, and his arm goes around my shoulder soothingly, but it still isn't enough. "Sunny," I mutter under my breath. Sunny set us up. She clipped out our faces from previous footage and made the background the closet? Why would she do this?

 _Slim, she did it for him. With two people off the ship, he would be required to stay on at all times._ "Cabot, ple-" "Cabot listen, that wasn't us. Sunny set us up. She must've used previous footage from the security cameras and made it look like we were in the supply room. In reality, Abe and I were in my room. Even ask Parnell, he would say the same!" I shout, no mercy in my tone. I don't even remember interrupting Abe; all I feel is the heat all around me. He immediately blamed us and didn't even snoop around. He could've just stormed down to the food supply and caught us if he really was influenced that it was us. That means, he must be in this with Sunny. "Parnell, please come to the dropship," Cabot says in a calm voice over the intercom.

Parnell walks in immediately and walks up to his boss. "Yes?" Cabot sighs, looks at me and looks back to Parnell. "Were these two in Caira's room a few minutes ago?" Parnell bites his lip and looks down. _Why is he considering this? He should be immediately saying that we were. If not for my sake, then for Abe's._ "No sir, no I believe they were heading off to the supply closet," Parnell replies after a long moment of silence. "The hell? Parnell come on man! You know we didn't do this!" Abe snaps, walking back towards the exit, leaving me in front of my ex-friend and boss. "I'm sorry Parnell, for what I said earlier. I was so stressed out with Slim and everything that I just snapped. I'm sorry that it had to be on you. And by the way, Abe only said what he said because he knew what I was feeling. If you still want to tell me what you wanted to before, I'll be in my room," I say sadly, feeling the guilt in Parnell's eyes. I turn around and walk away, and the last thing I see is Cabot infuriated and Parnell crying. Yes, the legendary Parnell, crying.

~Later, back at Caira's room~

"So Parnell had a choice is what you're saying?" Abe asks me as I pace back and forth in front of the door. "Yes, he could've either told the truth or go along with their little plan to get rid of us," I say, my eyes welling with tears. I should be mad, but I can't bring myself to go there. Why? Why am I depressed instead of mad? I should be storming over to the infirmary to drop kick Sunny right now, but I'm not? "Please sit down," Abe pleads from where he lies on my bed. I sigh and slid down next to him. "What are we going to do Abe? He won't change his mind," I ask. He puts his hand on my cheek and sighs. "We'll figure it out. We will. Don't ever not believe that. We'll solve all the problems that come our way, I promise," he replies softly. I don't even care anymore. I can't hold back. I explode into him. Our lips touch softly at first, but we pull each other closer, deepening the kiss. The heat of him extends to my cheeks, making my skin shiver. And we just sit there; our eyes closed and our lips locked onto one another's. We stay that way for what seems like an eternity.


	8. Chapter 8

**Abe's PoV**

We finally break apart, though I already miss the feel of her lips on mine. "Are you sure?" she asks, our foreheads touching and our lips inches apart. "Of course," I reply with a smile. I lean in again but right as our lips touch someone knocks on the door. "Parnell?" Caira whispers to me. We pull our faces apart and Caira gets the door, but she was wrong. Slim stood there, not Parnell. God, he looks exhausted, he's panting so hard! What did he run a marathon or something? "Caira!" Slim says with relief, and he pulls her into a hug. I can't help it. I'm so jealous of these two. If Caira and I ever break up, I know Slim will be her next. "Did Cabot hurt you?" he whispers to her. "No, not yet. He blamed us for stealing food though," she replies just as quiet as him. "Shit," he mutters, breaking away from her. "I'll help in whatever way I can. I heard Sunny talking to Cabot about a plan to get rid of you over the security cameras. I thought it was no big deal at first, but then I heard Cabot's angry voice over the intercom. I raced to the infirmary but Sunny wasn't there. I even searched her room. She wasn't there either. I heard shouting from down the hallway and took the long way around so I could think. When I finally got to the dropship Cabot stormed out before I could even say a word. Parnell ran after him in tears, so I came back here," he explains softly.

"Abe, is there any way to get Parnell back on our side?" Slim asks. "Of course there is," a voice says from behind Slim before I can even open my mouth. Parnell stood there, his tears gone and instead replaced with a grin. "I'm sorry guys, I betrayed you. I can't believe you're all still looking at me like you're not going to kill me," he says, a frown replacing his grin. "Don't worry about it. The past is the past, and if we're going to make it to the future we have to work together," this time Caira spoke. Though I doubt Parnell heard her. Come on! That guys like eight feet tall and she's like an ant. Hello down there is what Parnell should be saying instead of apologizing!

"Thank you Caira," he says softly, and for a solid second, they actually look like they're best friends. I grin and get off the bed swiftly and stand right beside Caira. "What's the plan?" I ask Parnell. "Well now it's four against two. Oh, and by the way, everything Caira said was true. Sunny set this up. Please don't hate her for it," Parnell says, directing his tone towards Caira. "Despite what I may seem like most of time, I don't hate her for it. Slim means so much to her and I would probably kick my own lazy ass out of this place if it meant Slim would be safe," she says softly. "Ahem," I interrupt, sliding my arm around Caira's shoulder. She giggles softly, "And you, you dumb ass." "We'll meet at the dropship in twenty minutes, okay?" Parnell says. We all nod and Slim and Parnell leave, and I close the door behind them.

"So what now?" Caira asks, her grin explodes onto her face. "Wellllllll, there's you, me, and a bed. What do _you_ want to do?" I ask jokingly. She playfully punches my arm and laughs, "Gross!" She sits on the bed again and smiles, patting the space next to her to tell me to sit down next to her. I sit down gracefully and wrap my arm around her again, and she happily welcomes the embrace and rests her head on my chest. "Whatever happens, I don't want you to get hurt," I whisper into her ear. She grins and looks up. "I was just about to say the same to you," she replies and throws her hands around my neck. "So you did like my idea about the bed?" I ask jokingly. "Shut up!" she says, amused, and closes the gap between us. The heat immediately swells up on my face and I hold her waist and pull her closer, and we both give away and fall down onto the bed.

 **Caira's PoV**

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. What the hell is going on right now? Somehow a soft kiss turned into something _much_ more. My shirt is mysteriously missing, and so is his. My bra and jeans are the only clothing left on me. His fingers trail down my neck and pleasure overtakes me. I moan out loud and he smiles as we kiss. I trail my fingers down his chest, feeling his muscles. And he's mine. Mine, mine, mine! His hands hold my bare shoulders as he pulls me closer and closer, and somehow his tongue is in my mouth? What the hell is wrong with me? What is going on in my head? My eyes open slightly to see his wide open, staring at me. All of me. "I love you," he whispers as he breaks free from my lips and starts kissing my neck. I shiver from the sudden heat, but know that everything will be alright. He was just about to remove my bra when my pants vibrate. Stupid phone! I grab it from out of its pocket and check it as he continues to kiss my neck gently. _It's from Sunny?_

 **Sunny: Hope you enjoy yourselves, for it won't last much longer.** I turn it off and throw it on the floor. Fuck her. I hope she dies. I just laugh it off as he slowly removes his lips from my neck. "Who was it from?" he asks sadly. "Not important," I reply. His hands find the clasp of my bra again, but this time he looks up, as if asking for permission. I laugh and nod, and off comes the bra. What the hell am I doing with my life again? Well I probably won't have a life when I get back home. My parents will eventually find out about Abe and disown me. Whatever. Abe's my life now I guess. I laugh again as we continue our 'session' and eventually I snap out of the enjoyment when I realize what Sunny's text meant. She is going to kill Abe.

 **Hey guys! It's awhile, I know! But I already have chapter 8 done, but I'll wait until I finish chapter 9 before posting it. Hope you enjoyed Caira and Abe's 'session'. I figured it would please some of you ;) That winky face is creepy O_O sorry... Well anyway! I'll try to post two chapters at a time, though it might be difficult after a while. And by the way, I plan on having at least twenty-five chapters for this fanfic! Don't worry though! When this is over, I'll be making the sequel! (Squeals) Yes, I know I shouldn't end it if I'm just going to make a sequel, but the sequel is NOTHING like this. Let's just say some more... interesting things happen... not just to Caira and Abe, but Shear itself. Thank you guys for reading this note! Remember to review, follow, and fav! Thank you all so much for your support! Bye for now! :D**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Abe!" I spring away from him and jump off the bed. "Wha?" he questions, almost looking drunk as he slowly widens his eyes. "It was from Sunny!" I hiss, grabbing all my clothes and throwing him his shirt. "You're not helping," he grunts, "what does she want?" "She wants to kill you!" I immediately shout back. "Okay, okay," he replies gently, backing off. "Dropship, now. Let's get to Parnell and Slim early, okay?" I demand, my tone gentle and soft now. He nods and slowly puts his shirt on. I open the door as soon as it's pulled over his head and speed walk down the narrow hallway. "wait up!" I hear Abe call from far behind me. I stifle a laugh and quicken my pace.

"Good night!" I hear from in front of me, and I turn around just in time to see Sunny pointing some kind of sniper right at me. Sunny's eyes are dark and determined, and she doesn't even hesitate. She pulls the trigger, and I immediately feel the pain everywhere. The echo of the gunshot springs off the walls. Now I get it. She wasn't going to kill Abe because of what he has done to her. She was going to kill me for interfering with her life. I crash to the ground and hear screaming from Abe and a laugh from Sunny. None of that matters though, now it's time to sleep. I close my eyes and smile. The pain is all over, and I feel my body drift off to another, quiet and better place.

~Caira PoV Still~

I jolt upward, feeling soft cushion from underneath me, and I immediately feel my chest from where the bullet hit. No blood, no bandage, no scar. My god it's so dark in here! What the hell happened! This doesn't look like the infirmary! I turn my head slowly, adjusting to the darkness and see another figure, clearly asleep, lying there, his bare back facing me. "Abe?" I ask softly, putting my hand on his bare, cold shoulder. I feel him inhale deeply and he shifts towards me, but he is not Abe. "What's wrong love?" he asks, he voice so sweet yet deep. Oh, my god. I was just dreaming this entire time? I see his well-structure face and bright, sparkling and curious blue eyes in the darkness and recognize him immediately. John.

The memory flushes back in an instant. Bells ringing around me, John's face wearing a huge, warm smile. The people cheering all around us. A beautiful white gown on me and a very sharp tuxedo wearing man in front of me. He takes my diamond ringed hand in his gold ringed hand and laces his fingers around me. For a moment, my heart stops. _I thought you died though? Didn't you? Right in front of me?_ I close my eyes and all that fills them is darkness, so I just sigh out a relief and open them again. The priest speaking to us is so faint until he says the famous words that would bring us together forever. "You may now kiss the bride."

He leans downwards and I move up, but the gunshot goes off and he freezes, gulping for air. He backs up, staring at his suddenly bloody chest. His eyes are in full shock as he slumps to the ground, and I fall with him. "No!" I screech. Small flashes of his smiles fill my brain and seeing him alive is an amazing feeling as I snap back into reality. "John?" I ask, seeing his warm smile again. "Yeah?" he asks, in a deep voice. I collapse into him, crying softly on his shoulder. "What did you dream about Caira?" he asks in my ear as he softly pets my hair. "I saw us. I saw what I thought was my future. I saw a terrible thing John!" I cry out through my tears.

"What was so terrible?" he asks in a gentle tone. "I dreamed years and years ahead in my life. We were going to get married! But someone assassinated you on the big day!" I choke out, his shoulder is now glistening of my tears. "I saw me leaving catalog to go join an evacuation on Shear, but that wasn't fun. Everyone I grew attached to either got hurt around me or turned bad," I say, softer than my previous words. "Listen, whatever you dreamed won't happen, I promise," he says into my ear in a soft, gentle voice.

"Why did you call me Abe," he asks as I calm down. "He was someone I met on the mission, he was interested in my research," I lie. "You're a terrible liar, what was he to you?" I sigh, knowing I must tell. "I don't know what he was to me anymore. If it was just a dream, then I guess it wasn't real," I explain softly. "Go back to sleep Caira, you'll feel better in the morning." I nod against his shoulder and pull away from him, then lay down. Everything is different now.

"Caira," John says, shaking me softly. "It's time to go to wake up, we have to get to Catalog in an hour," he finishes. I nod and stretch out my arms, yawning briefly. I sit up and see John already dressed up in his Catalog gear. "I never thought I would see this again," I mutter under my breath. I jump off of the bed and walk to the bathroom, exactly where I remember it, in the right corridor. I walk inside the small room and breath in the fresh scent of watermelon from the candle on the counter to my left. I close the white door behind me and lock it, remembering it all. I sigh as I start to get ready for Catalog.

"You're early for once!" Francis calls to us as he runs to join us. John and I stop and share the same bright smile we always used to when greeted by Francis. "Why, were you planning to surprise us?" I joke. He shakes his head and grins. "He's planning to though," Francis says, pointing at John. "Wha?" I start, but John walks in front of me. "He wants me to ask you something that I'm not going to," he says, rolling his eyes. "Well, what do you want to ask me?" I ask, putting my hands on my hips. He sighs and gets on one knee. _Oh no, I forgot, in my dream he proposed today! Shit, what do I do?_ He takes a small black box from his back pocket and pops it open, smiling he asks, "Caira Diaz, you are the smartest, most beautiful, and just down right most creative girl I've ever seen. Will you marry me?" I practically faint as he says every word. The same exact sentence he said to me in my dream. My eyes twitch and I look at the ring. Golden with a shiny diamond right in the middle. Same exact ring I remember. "Yes!" I shout without even thinking about it.

He jumps up and hugs me tightly. It feels so familiar, so right. Why? Why now? Why is any of this happening?

~Wedding Day~

My dress is so amazing! The elegant white gown glimmers in the light of the room, and he stands right in front of me, waiting for the moment we've all been waiting for. The moment we're officially married! He smiles brightly, and I smile back, keeping my dream that happened exactly one year ago in the back of my mind. He died today. I push the thoughts away; dreams can be nightmares sometimes.

After what seems like ten years, the priest finally says, "You may now kiss the bride," and I smile as he leans down. I blank out for a second, seeing a shadow in my vision instead. "If you had the chance to save him, would you?" the figure says in a very deep voice.

 **Just to clarify, yes, I did just pull the cliche it was just a dream shiz but oh well, more surprises are in store! Don't worry, we'll see Abe again one way or another ;)**


	10. Update Chapter

**UPDATE:**

 **Hi! Well, I have good news and bad news. So, let's start with the good news! I finished** ** _typing_** **the rest of the story and even some of the sequel, the bad news however is I literally just typed it. I am yet to review and revise, but I do expect another chapter to be coming out today. I've been working hard all week and hope that you enjoy the rest of the story, but after I finish Caira and Abe I plan on doing some Star Wars fanfic. Meaning, I'll hold off on the sequel until at least a month. I have so many more story ideas for Evolve though! Many more ships are incoming! I do plan on finishing my first fanfic about the monsters and how they came to Shear, but I'm restarting that. Allllsooooo, I finished my first OVERWATCH fanfic! I love OW with a burning passion, so I made a tiny fanfic about Soldier and Mercy, not a romance story but a full on serious story about what happened when Mercy found Jack dead right after the Swiss headquarters blew up.**

 **About John….. yeah I screwed that part up very bad, but whatever no one cares about him, we only care about Abe and Caira! Maybe? Well, r.i.p. Caira. Let's just say that the next chapter may be more emotional than the others and some characters do die.**

 **Well now since that's out of the way, I can ask you all what I've been meaning to ask! I wanted to ask you guys to leave YOUR Evolve ships! I do have a lot of spare time now a days so I may do a short (or full) story on them! Thank you for the constant support and don't forget to follow and fav!**

 **~Caira D**


	11. Chapter 10

"Yes," I answer back, coming back to reality. I hear the creak of the chairs as a man stands up, pointing a pistol at John's heart. It feels like the world is spinning around me, everything feels like it's going so fast! I push him to the ground and jump forward, hearing the bullet go off, hitting my heart instead. I crash to the ground and whisper "I love you," as the light and fire that once grew inside me, leaves me.

~Abe's PoV~

"Caira?" Sunny lays on the ground, a bullet through her stomach, while Caira is shaking uncontrollably. I turn her onto her back and see the wound, right through her stomach as well. "Don't you dare do this to me!" I shout. "What the hell happened!" Slim calls from down the hallway. "Caira? Sunny?" Slim looks at the two girls and rushes over to Sunny instead, enraging me. "Sunny! What the hell!" he shouts. Val rushes down from the hallway behind me and is shouting something inaudible. All that matters is Caira, she's all that ever mattered to me. "Abe! Move!" Val shoves me away from her and inspects the wound. "It's deep, I need to get the bullet out. Abe! Get her to the infirmary while I inspect Sunny!"

I swing her up easily into my arms, hearing her grunt put not cry. I sprint down the hallway, careful not to drop her and reach the infirmary quickly and with my fingers I gently open the door and lay her on the bed closet to the door. "Abe!" she screams out, putting her hand over the wound in shock. "W-What did I do?" I ask, searching her terrified face for answers. "Nothing, she's just in shock," Val says from behind me, and as she slips in Slim comes in as well with Sunny in his arms. He puts her down in the bed next to Caira's and I stare at him through enraged eyes. _I see no honor in you, going for your love interest who turned evil instead of your best friend who tried to help you!_ "Abe, look. I know what you're thinking, I'm sorry okay? I was in shock and completely forgot about what Sunny did. You saw Caira there. If it was between Parnell or her, who would you choose?" he says.

I open my mouth, but he's right and I know it deep inside. Caira would be my choice, not my best friend, no, not best friend, lifelong friend. Heat swells up in my eyes and I open my eyes wider, tears welling in them. _Caira! Please don't leave me!_ I rush to her side quickly, but Val is working as swift as ever. I've always admired that about her, she never bragged, never lost her fire and always did her job and cared for us all. Val puts her to sleep and starts operating on her stomach. Well, more like her chest. Right above her stomach, I guess. "Please let me concentrate, just step outside. Both of you. I'll be finished soon," Val says while stretching Caira's bleeding skin apart to get the bullet out. _Goodbye for now Caira, I love you._ And I walk out, and let the doors shut behind me.

~Caira PoV~

I feel like I'm floating in the endless darkness, desperately trying to reach up, trying to grab the border and get back into the world. The memory of John still haunts my brain whenever I close my eyes, and my fingers twitch uncontrollably. "So, you chose that you would save him?" A voice calls to me, echoing off the invisible boundaries of the dark. "Of course," I answer, closing my eyes and letting a single tear escape my left eye. I smile remembering him proposing to me, and cry harder when I see him fall to his knees and see the darkness that is now consuming me. "Show yourself!" I call out, snapping my eyes open. I turn around and see a kraken standing behind me. Small bolts of lightning strike across his back, making it look like a civil war is going on in his very own skin. His four eyes open and sparkle a bright blue, which makes me squint my eyes at first, but I adjust, His size clearly shows that he is stage three, but he looks different from other Krakens. His size is much larger than a stage three and his claws are twice as long, and they dig into the invisible ground.

"W-Who are you?" I stagger, dropping back and slowly dragging myself farther away from him. Once I am a good ten feet away from him, his body dissolves and appears again behind me. "I am Krakus, the most powerful Kraken out there, and one of the ten, as you call us, 'monster' gods" he says in an alien sounding voice. "H-How are you here?" I step back, watching the krakens every move. "I came to tell you that even though you think that your life is over, you will still have to make a choice. No matter how much you think you're alright, you will never escape the world of choices." I nod slowly, turning my right foot slowly.

"Why did you come to _me?"_ I say in an unfamiliar voice. The kraken laughs in a demonic way and sighs. "Because Caira, you too want something. We want our freedom you want to save the ones you love. Then again, who doesn't want to save someone close to them? Ah well, does not matter now. I'm afraid that my short time with you is over. I apologize for being so vague, but you're smart enough to figure this out. I know you will." I turn away and run, scarred by what he has just said. Panting as I charge onward, I turn back and see only darkness. No kraken or lightning. I slowly come to a stop and breath in slowly, looking around the darkness for anything to see. I look down, seeing darkness below me as well. Sighing, I stand still, taking in my loneliness. I fall to my knees suddenly and cry it all out. Everything. I see Abe's smile, John's too, and cry harder. I see the monsters destroying Shear once and for all and shiver. I curl into a ball of tears and depression as a light covers my face, blinding my vision. I feel my body being lifted towards it, and I accept it. If this is my fate, then so be it. I will die trying. I smile, feeling the warmth consume me as the light fades away from my face. _Abe._ My eyes snap open, my arms falling backwards with my legs as I am being lifted up into a new time.

 _Not this time!_ I scream at the top of my lungs, flinging my arms around, desperate to break free on the force pulling me. And suddenly, I fall. My screams fade as I plummet into the sudden darkness as it consumes me.

~Abe's PoV~

"She's stable for now," Val calls to me as she opens the infirmary door. I look up, my eyes sparkling with relief. "What about Sunny?" Slim asks, breaking me out of my thoughts. Val looks at him with sorrow. "I'm sorry Slim. I could only save one," she says slowly. Slim's eyes twitch as he pushes past her. "Sunny's…. Gone?" he realizes slowly. "Abe, I know how much you want to see Caira right now, but you were assigned to a mission. Cabot called me right when I finished stabilizing her," Val says from behind Slim. I nod, feeling a deep sadness fill inside me. _Sunny._ I turn around and run, faster than I've ever run before towards the dropship, seeing my squad mates already there. _Parnell, Kala, Emet._

~Caira~

"What the hell!" I bolt upwards, breathing in warm gasps of air. Sweat drips slowly down from my forehead. "Caira! You're alright!" Val rushes over to me and wraps me in a tight hug. "Thank god! I thought I was going to lose you! I already lost one, I thought I wouldn't be able to save you," Val says with a shaky voice. "Thank you so much for saving me," I say into her warm shoulder. She pulls back, tears in her eyes as she laughs nervously. "That must've been so hard though. Hard to operate on, I mean," I say, looking down at the bandages around my upper stomach. Val nods, staring at me with fearful eyes.

 _I already lost one._ I snap up, looking at Val with concern in my eyes. "Wait, what happened to Sunny," I ask, wondering how they stopped my attacker. Val cries softly, pointing to the bed next to mine. Slowly, I turn my head and see a very injured Sunny next to me. I shiver as I see the ghostly pale of her skin and the bullet wound right in her stomach. _It must've torn her stomach lining._ "It was either you or her Caira, I'm so sorry," she coughs out through her cries. "Don't apologize to me, Val, I'm grateful, however, I can only imagine how Slim and Abe reacted."

"Abe left. He had a mission. Slim, well, he ran away. I doubt he'll come back. I'm sorry Caira, I know you cared for him deeply." I shiver again, turning away from Val. _Why did Slim have to leave in the first place. None of this would've happened if he just stayed and helped Sunny._ I close my eyes, tears filling them. "You saved me Val, you should not be sorry for something that is not in your control," I sigh out, "But Abe." I stop mid-sentence, feeling something deep inside of me collapse. _Something has happened._ "Caira?" Val says through my thoughts.

"Val, we need to go. Now! I feel like something has happened. I know it Val, please, we need to find them!" I shout desperately. Val sighs but nods. "Okay, but we need to sneak by the boss first." I nod gratefully and attempt to stand. As soon as my feet touch the floor I gasp in pain, and the world goes dark again.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

~Abe's PoV~

"Healing field activated!" Emet shouts through the monster's roars. "Eat this!" Parnell says as he fires five rounds of his shotgun in the Goliath's gray back. The monster roars in frustration as I throw out a stasis grenade. I laugh softly and see Kala placing a teleporter on the top of the catwalk. "Teleporter is up! Use as you see necessary!" she shouts as she starts peeling off the monster's armor. "Monster is weak! Shoot him!" I shout as I fire off my shotgun into the enraged monster's chest. The monster throws it right arm at me and the impact knocks me all the way in the back. "I got you!" Emet says as he flies over me, activating the healing burst. I get up swiftly, mumbling out my thanks as I jetpack back over to the rock I was just on. "Parnell!" Emet calls out over the screams of the monster. I stare in shock, seeing Parnell lying on the ground, with the monster right over him, and bits of broken rocks surrounding his body. "No!" I shout, firing my shotgun into the monster's right leg.

The Goliath slams down, right on top of Parnell's unconscious body. "Emet! Heal him dammit!" I shout through the constant sound of gun fire. Emet throws a healing buoy right behind the monster and it bursts to life, consistently healing the injured Parnell. "Healing field is almost up!" Emet shouts. Parnell shakes his head vigorously as he starts to stand up. The Goliath roars and jumps so high I almost lost him in the moonlight. The Goliath smashes back down on the ground. Right into Parnell. "Parnell!" I screech. "Finish the Goliath!" Kala shouts.

The Goliath screams out it's defeat, but jumps toward Emet and successfully grabs him and slams him into the ground, his right leg blows and he shuts down. "We better be the most bad ass hunters in the galaxy!" Kala shouts as the Goliath starts jumping towards her. I smile, suddenly forgetting about Parnell and Emet. "We are," I say softly as I jetpack into the sky, throwing stasis grenades down all around the Goliath. Kala throws her mines at the Goliath and I continue to jet pack upwards, seeing the Goliath strike Kala down as I apply another round of shotgun ammo on him. I swiftly reload and descend quickly, feeling the earth beneath me again. "Come and get some!" I scream, firing off another full round into his bleeding gray flesh. He turns his head viciously after throwing Kala into a huge rock, making her scream out in agony. The Goliath leaps toward me, and I jump to the side, avoiding the slam of the Goliath's red fists.

Reacting fast, I throw a stasis grenade and use my jetpack to move back swiftly. I pull out my shotgun and roll it off into his face, making him screech out blood in pure anger. I reload and jump to his left flank, firing another round into his left leg. He snarls and breathes out fire in my direction, but I feel something push me aside, and I fall forward, onto the rock-hard ground. Breathing heavily, I get up on one knee and turn around, shock filling my eyes. Val and Caira fighting the monster. _Why?_ "Get off your ass and do something!" Val shouts to him as she tranquilizes the monster. "Caira is clearly leaning on her left leg, and firing very shaky grenades into the monster's right leg as I stand, feeling the cool metal of my shotgun hit my gloved hand. I jump up, feeling the burning of my jetpack on my worn-out pants as I accelerate upwards. I fire off a final round into the shocked Goliath's back as he drops dead on the ground.

I drop my shotgun and race over to Caira, standing unevenly on the Earth, looking as if she's been through heaven and hell to get here. "Caira!" I say through my heavy breathing. She turns her head and smiles warmly, looking directly into my ears as she limps towards me. "Thank god!" I yell, as I swing her up into my arms. She giggles softly, and stares into my eyes. "Why did you come?" I mutter to her, watching Val walk towards the fallen hunters behind me. "I felt danger, I don't know what happened, but I _felt_ someone die. I had to be carried here, but I was determined to come," she replies dryly, looking at my lips. "I missed you for that one hour you were gone," she says with a smile. I nod in reply, closing my eyes and inching closer. "Wait, is that Parnell? Put me down!" she screams, and I silently obey, carefully putting her feet down.

Her eyes expand in disbelief as she limps towards the fallen hunter. "What the hell happened!" she hisses back to me, not stopping. I race toward Parnell, passing Caira's angry glare and kneel at his beaten body. "He's… oh god… he's not breathing!" Val says while feeling his throat. "We have to get him back to the infirmary on the dropship to revive him then!" Caira says from a few feet behind us. "Agreed. Abe, grab him, I'll help. Caira, go start the ship, you're flying." Caira nods and turns around and starts running. _Damn, I admire that girl._ Despite her injuries she's running, I have no idea how she's doing it. She runs into the endless trees and I lose sight of her slim body, and I close my eyes, seeing the day we were assigned to the same team, and how she looked into the tiny pool of water and explained her fears to me. "Abe, come on," Val nudges me softly, looking down at Parnell's body. I sigh and wrap my arms around my friend's corpse and pull.

~Caira~

I start up the engines and wait in silence, listening to the whispers that sound like screams in my head. _He's gone. It's all your fault. You never got to say how much you cared and now he's gone because of you!_ I throw my hands to my ears, softly sobbing as the whispers continue to scold me. _Why didn't you help him! You were a terrible friend to him! He never loved you! Fool!_ I can't help it, I scream. I fall out of the pilot's set and cry into my arm, desperately trying to block the sounds out. "Caira! It's time to go!" Val yells from the back. I wipe my tears away and jump into the pilot's seat. I look off into the starry night and sigh with another tear escaping my right eye. _So, this is what heartbreak feels like._ And I take off.

 **Sorry that this chapter's so short, but I wanted to post another. I know most people read this for Caira and Abe, but I figured that this would give the story an emotional impact. I'm not afraid to kill people off, even the main characters, but I still want happiness somewhere in this story, so the next chapter and the chapter after that will be the most depressing ones, I promise!**


	13. Update 2

**_Hello there. Long time no see. Well, let's just get right to the point. Tomorrow, I'm probably going to finish revising the next chapter, tonight however, I'll be posting a brand new fanfic for Evolve! Not saying what it is though! Anyway, the reason why I haven't updated is because I've had softball... Oh wait, that's not why. It's because I broke my f*cking thumb at softball. Yeah I've been a little slow on the typing lol. But I'm still putting in work for you guys, don't worry :) Hope you all enjoy the new fanfic, and I'll see you all tomorrow. Remember to follow/fav :D_**

 ** _~Caira_**


	14. Chapter 12

~Abe~

"Caira, please let me talk to you," I sigh out desperately, walking towards her. "No Abe, please just let me sort this out on my own. I need my alone time," she answers back, walking away and towards her room. I sigh deeply, turning back around to return to my own room. "Abe!" a soft female voice calls to me. I look up, seeing Val standing there, looking panicked. "I heard what she said, and I know it may be rough to watch her like this, but trust me, she will work it out," Val says as she approaches me. "I know," I sigh, looking down.

It's been twelve hours since Parnell's funeral and I already feel like I'm missing a piece inside me. "I don't want to bother her, it's just that I need her comfort more than ever right now. Parnell and I were lifelong friends too," I explain, not removing my eyes from the floor. "Give her some more time, then go see her," Val says as she rests her hand on my shoulder. I fix my gaze from the ground to her eyes and see the compassion burning in them. The brilliant blue of her eyes makes me feel like I'm seeing ocean water or the sky on a beautiful day, but I can also see some darkness behind them. Val is the most secretive of all of us, but she's still willing to do anything to protect her friends. "How long do you think I should wait?" I ask quietly. Val looks down and backs away, putting her hand down. "Screw it. Just go now. She needs help, Abe. Major help. She almost got _killed_ and now she lost her friend she's known forever and she didn't even get to say goodbye or do a damn thing to stop it. She may be mad, but be patient. She'll come through." I nod and silently thank her with a grateful look as I turn around and walk towards her room.

I stand in the doorway, and though the doors closed, I can see her crying into her arm, trying to hide it the way she always does. _Don't cry. You're stronger than that._ I close my eyes and see the memory in an instant. Our first training mission plays in front of my eyes. I see a torn-up Caira sitting on a bench outside of the training room as I desperately try to comfort the new girl. _It'll get better, it always does, trust me._ I ring the door bell and she grumbles out a come in as I open the door slowly. I peek in and see Caira, beat down and crying into her pillow. I sigh and swing the door open. She crouches and turns to look at me as I close the door behind me and plop down next to her. "I won't feel better no matter what you say. Trust me. I don't need words," she says through her sobs. I nod and look right into her beautiful eyes.

Without thinking, I wrap my arms around her and pull her into me. My head finds her shoulder as she cries into my shirt. "I know," I whisper into her ear, letting her cries fade in and out through my thoughts.

~Caira~

I grunt as I snap awake from another nightmare that I don't remember. I look beside me and only find unfolded blankets there. _Abe?_ He must've left after I cried myself to sleep, I guess. I stretch my arms and jump off the bed, feeling a burn in my chest as I struggle to stand. I groan and crouch on the floor, feeling the pain slowly go away. My muscles ache, my brain continues to taunt me with whispers I can never control and my heart feels like it's been stabbed at least twenty times. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, feeling the fresh air warm up my lungs as I stand up again, feeling a much minor burn as I start to walk. "What time is it?" I groan to myself as I check the alarm next to my bed. Suddenly, my bedroom door snaps open and Abe walks in, looking tired.

His eyes light up when he sees me standing, and he rushes to my side. "Are you alright?" he asks softly, pushing me back on the bed. "Am I ever alright anymore?" I ask, staring into the dark hallway outside of my room. My eyes blink rapidly and sweat threatens to run down my forehead as Abe gently pushes me into my bed's covers. His eyes are full of sadness, but I know it's not pity for me that he's feeling. "Abe?" I ask through our silence. He sits on the corner of my soft bed and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah?" he asks gently, his eyes looking into mine. "Don't pretend you don't miss him," I pause, biting my lower lip as his eyes light up again, "You need to let your feelings out." His eyes well up with tears, and I slide over, letting him lie down next to me. "I'm not pretending that I don't miss him. He was my best friend, hunting partner," he trails off, and a single tear rushes down his cheek. I sit up, and he looks up at me as I do.

"Don't conceal your emotions Abe," I pause, gently wiping the tear away with a warm smile on my lips, "No matter what I'll be here for you." More tears slowly poor out of him, and I wipe them all away. I sigh after his tears stop and I lean down on top of him and feel his warmth against me. _This is what we do for each other. We fight our fears away and wipe away all of our tears._ "Thank you," he murmurs, rubbing his hand up and down against my back. We stay this way for what seems like an eternity.

We wake up in the same position, and Abe grunts as I move off of him. "It's like, four a.m.!" he groans, turning onto his side to glance at my alarm clock. I giggle as his eyes expand, seeing that it is 11a.m. "Moron," I say jokingly as I jump off of my bed and open my dresser. "Get out," I growl, taking my battle gear out of my dresser. He walks out of my still open door and tips his hat to me before closing it. Sighing, I somehow manage to get out of the infirmary clothes put on me when I was injured and I throw on my battle gear as soon as someone knocks at the door. I walk over with a smile on my face and turn the wooden knob to open the door. Cabot stands there, holding his damage amplifier and in full hunting armor. "Um," I simply say, glancing down at my bandaged stomach. He nods, "I don't want you to go anywhere, don't worry. However, I want you to at least train later to improve your healing."

I nod back, my eyes widened in surprise as he walks off and Abe appears again with that stupid yet adorable smirk of his on his face. "I heard everything he said, but damn," he pauses, looking at me in awe, "I didn't think that he'd say something like that to you when you look this badass." He laughs softly and I smile and grab his arm, pulling him inside. I close the door and push him against the bed, my eyes looking straight into his. "Fuck you," I say as I push my lips against his. He groans in shock but doesn't back away, instead he kisses back, deepening the kiss. I smile against his lips, feeling heat rush into my cheeks. He chuckles lightly and backs away tauntingly and I giggle back as he slides to the other side of the bed.

I jump onto the bed with him and creep up on him like a predator. "No escape from me mustache," I say as I jump on top of him with a laugh. He grunts back but doesn't fight. "Damn, you're pretty strong for being injured," he groans, attempting weakly to push me off. I giggle lightly as I lean onto him, and he stops fighting. "I love you," he whispers as he lightly kisses my neck. I lean down to his ear and sigh. "Do I need to answer that?" I ask jokingly as I lean back again. "Sorry Abe, but I think I should go train now," I say tauntingly as I jump off of him and over to my door. He groans but follows quickly, appearing behind me.

I open the door and walk out, Abe quietly following. "You're coming too?" I ask, turning around to face him. "Well, yeah," he says, a concerned look on his face. I shake my head and gently laugh, turning around again and walking off.

His face looks just as pale as Slim remembers. Slim stares into his crystal blue eyes as they walk side by side. "I'm so sorry Slim, about everything that has happened. I will try to make it right, I promise," he says, his voice perfectly stable and clear. His glove shimmers in Shear's moonlight as they walk to the escape pod Slim fled on. "Are you sure she'll be the _exact_ same?" Slim asks as he opens the pod's door. He nods as the two walk inside. Slim takes the pilot's seat and powers it up as the pale man goes to the co-pilots seat. Without another word, Slim takes off. _This is right,_ Slim tells himself as they leave Shear's atmosphere.

They dock once they submit their clearance codes and Slim springs out of his seat and opens the door with Cabot standing on the other side. His eyes widen with shock as the pale man steps out beside Slim. "Lazarus?" Cabot asks, his eyes taking in the sight of him. "I am only here for an hour. I have a very tight schedule. Only to train," Lazarus says deeply. Cabot looks at Slim with a questioning look. "I invited him, yes. I wanted someone who didn't know what happened to be with me when I came back," Slim replies, looking at the ground.

"Okay, training room us exactly where you remember it Slim," Cabot replies, walking away in shock. Lazarus looks at Slim with anger in his blue eyes. "If this happens again, I will not help you. There are many colonists that need this much more." Slim nods and leads the way out of the hangar and into the blank hallway. "This way," Slim says dryly as he points to a door that has a sign saying infirmary over it. They start down the hallway slowly until a voice interrupts them. "Slim?" a familiar female voice says from behind the two. He sighs and turns around, seeing Caira standing there. "What are you doing h-" she breaks off as she sees Lazarus next to him. "Where's the training room? I came here to keep up on my skills and Slim was being incompetent enough to get us lost, "Lazarus says, rolling his eyes at Slim. Caira bites her lip but points behind her, nearly hitting Abe as he walks up behind her.

He stops in his tracks and his eyes widen in shock. "Thank you Caira, it is nice to see you. You too, Abraham," Lazarus says, walking in the direction that Caira is pointing. "Come on, I don't have all day. Only an hour of training then I go back is what we agreed on," Lazarus says, rolling his eyes. Slim shakes out of his shock and quickly joins Lazarus as he looks back to see Caira and Abe walking into her bedroom with shocked expressions on their faces. Once their door closes Slim grabs Lazarus's arm and drags him back towards the infirmary. "No interruptions this time," Slim mutters as he opens the door to the infirmary where he immediately spots two bodies on the inside.

"Two?" Slim says in surprise. He recognizes the second body as Parnell, and Lazarus behind him looks just as shocked. "Is there something you did not tell me?" he questions. "N-no. I don't know what happened," Slim replies calmly, approaching Sunny's body. "We made a deal, and I don't plan on letting a second dead person get in the way of it," Slim growls as Lazarus stares at Parnell's covered corpse. "I understand," Lazarus mutters back, walking over to Sunny's concealed corpse. "Are you sure about this. What she has done in the past, she won't forget. She may attempt something else," Lazarus asks, walking over to Slim's side. Slim throws the cover of Sunny's corpse off of her and nods. "I'll take care of her, I promise," he simply says.

Lazarus sighs and his glove sparks back to life as he stands over Sunny's corpse. Lazarus looks back at Slim, and Slim sighs. "Hurry the fuck up!" he growls, looking at his friend's corpse. Lazarus sighs and activates his glove. "The Lazarus device commands, you must obey!" he says as it zaps over Sunny's body, and she springs back to life.

"What the hell was that all about Marshal?" Bucket asks from his seat. Cabot sighs, picking up his damage amplifier and staring at it with shock. "They're up to something. Slim is, at least. I know Laz wouldn't do anything bad on purpose. Slim lost the love of his life, and love makes people do crazy things," Cabot explains, shutting his eyes as he remembers seeing his wife die in his arms. "I will never understand humans," Bucket growls. Cabot opens his eyes again and looks over at Bucket. "Honestly, neither will I," Cabot replies.

Bucket walks over to his friend and looks right at him through his one crystal eye. "Are you sure about this? Two more days until the evacuation is complete and there has already been two casualties and multiple injuries," Bucket asks, looking back at the door Cabot came through. "We must put our needs behind Bucket, otherwise millions will die," Cabot replies, moving away from his robot friend. "Are you only saying this because of your wife?" Bucket asks. Cabot stops in his tracks, anger building inside of him. He turns back around and walks back towards Bucket. "My wife has _nothing_ to do with this!" Cabot yells, his eyes filled with remorse.

Bucket staggers back, but quickly speaks again, "I didn't mean it like that. I meant, you blame yourself for what happened to her, so I thought that maybe you were trying to tell yourself that what happened here wasn't anyone's fault." Cabot growls but backs away from him. "My wife's death _was_ because of me, but I know not to make that mistake again. Bucket, you will _never_ talk about my wife again. Understand?" Cabot moves back towards him like a predator zooming in on its prey. Bucket quickly backs off and nods. "I'm sorry commander, it's just hard not to remember something that affected you so much."

Cabot walks away without another word, leaving Bucket in astonishment. _He blames himself?_ Bucket asks himself. Sighing, Bucket walks away, doing what he promised. To never speak about Cabot's wife again.

"Sunny!" Slim tugs her into his arms and she gladly welcomes the embrace. Her breath is warm against his shoulder, but he doesn't mind. "W-What happened? How am I alive?" she asks. Slim backs away and Lazarus steps into her view. "O-oh my god," she nearly falls off the bed when she sees his pale face. "Lazarus?" she asks, jumping off the bed to stand in front of him. "You're here? Alive?" she asks, scanning him from head to toe. "Of course. It may have been difficult, but nothing is impossible," Lazarus replies, closing his glove. Sunny gasps once she sees the light leave the glove. "It's alright, you're safe now," Slim says, putting his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. She nods and quickly tugs a brown curl behind her head.

"How are you feeling?" Lazarus asks behind them. Sunny gasps again but doesn't move. "Fine, I guess. Kind of hard to say since I _just_ came back to life," Sunny says with a smile. Slim nearly laughs and Lazarus smiles. _Actually_ smiles. Suddenly, Sunny's warm expression drops. "Where's Caira? Is she okay?" "We don't know, I saw her and she's alright to what I've seen, she's in her room with Abe," Slim replies. Sunny rushes past the two of them and out of the infirmary. "Sunny! Wait!" Slim rushes after her. When he gets in the hallway, he's sees it's already too late. Sunny opens the door, and Slim is able to hear gasps from inside her room.

"Caira! Abe! Sunny!" Slim yells as he approaches Sunny from behind. He puts his hands on her shoulders, lightly tugging her back. He stands in front of her and looks into the room of shocked faces. Abe and Caira are sitting on the edge of Caira's bed, and their faces are both filled with a mix of anger, remorse, and surprise. "Caira, I'm so sorry," Slim says, knowing that Parnell is still dead. Caira shakes her head. "How?" she starts as Lazarus appears in the doorway. She stares at him with pure hate in her eyes. "Parnell!" she yells, jumping off the bed and pushing past all three of them. Abe jumps after her, but Slim shakes his sadly, and Abe's eyes fills with sadness.

"You son of a bitch!" Caira runs back over from the infirmary and slaps Slim across the face. He staggers back, gasping in surprise. "You brought _her_ back but not _him!_ " she hisses tackling him to the ground. Sunny nods her head slowly and backs off, knowing that this is well deserved. Lazarus stands and stares with cat-like eyes, no emotion coming from them. "What the hell Sunny?" Slim asks from his position on the ground. "You come back, don't even talk to me and _revive_ her!" Hate fills in her eyes as she punches him square in the jaw. He weakly attempts to block her punch, but she pushes right past it. Abe growls in approval, while the other two stand there watching. "Fuck you!" she screams, punching him repeatedly.

"What the hell is going on!" a voice asks from down the hallway. "Slim?" the voice, clearly female, says in disbelief. "Jackass!" Val comes running down the hallway and pulls Caira off of Slim, but clearly reluctantly once she sees Lazarus and Sunny. "You guys are _insane_!" Val yells, pulling Slim off of the ground. "I'm sorry," Caira mutters. "Not you," Val points a finger out to silence her as she continues to stare at Sunny through angry eyes. "It's not like I had a say in this," Sunny says, putting out her arms defensively. "Slim," Val turns to him, "you're going to take her with you, far away from her. Understand?" Slim nods slowly, trying to hold his ground.

Val turns around and walks off growling. "Damn," is all that is said, but no one cares to find out who said it. Slim turns to Caira who has already walked back into her room with Abe, and Sunny is already walking towards the escape pod with Lazarus. Slim sighs and looks at Caira's closed door. _I need to. I can't just leave her forever._ He takes a deep breath and opens the door, and Caira looks up. "Get out," she says, the anger back in her eyes. "I know you're mad at me," Slim pauses, seeing the anger go to sadness, "I know I've done a lot of fucked up things, but we all have. You have every right to be mad at me. You're right, I'm a bitch, and I can't make you be friends with me again. I can't. But I'm not leaving on that note. I don't care if you speak to me again, I would understand. I don't know about you, but I would rather not have our last words to each other be fuck you." Caira's eyes well up with tears, and she takes his words in.

"Sunny means _everything_ to me. She's made mistakes, _massive_ mistakes. She's alive because of me, I know. I promise I'll keep her away from you though, but _please_ Caira, I love you as a friend and I always will. I didn't want you to find out about this, but I couldn't stop her from coming to you. Caira, please just not let our last words be filled with hate. I'm not asking for forgiveness, I'm just asking for a goodbye," Slim desperately explains. Caira looks down and bites her lower lip. She snaps up again and looks at her with sadness in her eyes.

Slim looks back with the same amount of sadness. Abe grips her hand so tight, but that doesn't seem to bother her. Abe's eyes are begging her to say goodbye, but she shakes her head. "Fuck you," she spits, walking up to close the door of their friendship forever.

"What the hell?" Abe asks me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "I can't forgive him, I just can't," I try to explain through my tears. "You forgave Parnell and he's done _much_ worse to you," Abe points out. I wipe several tears away, remembering Parnell's smile and his eyes that were always filled with remorse when around me. "I know," I mutter. "Caira, you need to say goodbye, I'm sure he hasn't left yet. _Please_ ," Abe begs. I shake my head slowly, still trying to comprehend what's going on. " _Why?"_ Abe asks, removing his hand from my shoulder. "Were you even _listening?_ He was trying to hard just for you to say goodbye!" Abe yells, standing up from the bed and walking out.

I lean down in guilt as he shuts the door behind him. "I can't," I mutter. "He doesn't understand what we've been through, does he?" _You'll be alright, I promise._ Slim's voice says in my head. "No, no, no." I murmur as I put my hands on my face, trying to conceal my tears. _I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have our last words to each other be fuck you._ "No!" I scream, falling off of my bed, the whispers of Slim's voice constantly snapping at me in my head. I shake violently, as if I'm going through a seizure or something. I can't even feel my legs or arms. I somehow manage to drown out all the whispers in my head and I focus on listening to the voices outside of my room. "I'm sure she didn't mean it, just please try again," Abe's voice says.

"I don't know, maybe I should just go," Slim says back with doubt in his voice. "No, please," Abe says back. "We have to go, come on!" Lazarus calls. "Hang on, let me get her really quick," Abe says. I gasp in panic, attempting to move, but I cannot, everything hurts, my jet-black hair is scrambled all over my wet face. I squeeze my eyes shut in fear and end up finding myself drifting off. And then it happens. I feel the door open, and Abe practically screams, but none of that matters. My eyes don't open again, and I feel the darkness consume me once again.

My eyes slowly flutter open to see a huge light hanging above me. I blink and shake my head, trying to clear my head. "Caira?" it was Slim's voice, but I don't care, someone's here for me, that's all that matters. "Slim?" I ask, leaning up as my eyes start to clear from the darkness. "What happened to you?" he asks, hovering inches away from my face. I look at his bug eyes with a dizzy feeling inside of me. "I don't k-know," I reply, looking down again. He gently puts his three-fingered hand on my shoulder and sighs when I don't push him away. "Can I say goodbye now?" I ask, biting my lower lip. His eyes light up and he nods. "I don't want to leave you," he replies, sadness in his tone. "Go to her, she needs you. _You_ need her," I reply gently.

I look up and smile at him. "I love you too, as a friend of course." He smiles back and backs up. "Thank you," he replies, turning away. "Slim, wait," I say, trying to reach out to him. He turns back around with curiosity in his eyes. "Come here," when he doesn't move I add, "Please." He nods and walks forward, leaning over me again. I shift forward and light kiss his cheek, then back away. "I'll never forget you. Though I may never see you again. I'm glad you stayed," I say, my cheeks blushing. He stiffens but nods, then backs away. "Goodbye, Caira," he says as he walks away from me for the last time.

"Caira?" a familiar voice calls to me. I open my eyes to see nothing but darkness. "Who's there!" I shout, looking around the darkness desperately. "Oh, only an old friend," a familiar male's voice calls. _No way._ "Slim? Abe?" I call, looking around. Suddenly, a flash goes off behind me and I gasp and stagger away. I fall to what feels like a ground and struggle to take in air. "Hello, Caira," he says deeply. I sharply turn my head, hatred burning in my eyes until I see Parnell's familiar face. My angered expression drops and I spring up and throw my arms around him. I cry into his armored shoulder, but he doesn't move. "I'm sorry Caira, I only came her to warn you though," he says gently, backing away from me. I look up, sadness filling into my eyes. "What's wrong?" I ask as he starts to walk back more. "There's a new threat coming Caira, I can tell. You need to be brave. You need to land on Shear and take it head on. Bring Abe, get Slim and I'm sorry, but you'll need Sunny."

I nod, but can't push the uneasy feeling out of my gut. "What's wrong?" I ask, looking at him with concern. "I don't know, I can just feel it. I know what to do I just don't know what it is," he replies. I nod, understanding that this _has_ to do with the monsters. "I'll do my best. When do I need to go to Shear?" I ask, looking around the darkness once more. "As soon as you wake up. Find Slim and Sunny, Abe will trust you enough I know that already. After wards, you have to go to the sector labeled the refueling tower. After that, you need to search the area around and something will be there for you, I know it," he explains. I nod, determined to accomplish my fallen friend's wish. "I will. I promise I will. I'll do whatever it takes Parnell." He nods his thanks and his silhouette fades away. "P-Parnell?" I look around the darkness, searching desperately for his body. I feel the light pulling at me again, but this time I welcome it. I close my eyes and smile, happy that I was able to see my friend again, even though it was only for a minute or two.

I snap awake and immediately lean forward, gasping. Abe walks in and stares at my sweating body with a worried look. "You alright?" he asks with concern in his tone. I nod, looking at him in a concerned way. "I say Parnell," I simply say, and his eyes light up with sorrow. "He told me to get to Shear as fast as possible. With you, me, Slim, and Sunny," I explain with a sigh. "Slim and Sunny are already there, but did he say why?" I nod, and signal him to come closer. "He told me he didn't know why, he just felt like something was happening, but I think I know what it is. The monsters, something's happening with the monsters. You need to trust me Abe, I know this is real." He sighs as he walks towards me and leans over me. "I do trust you, and this is worth the risk I guess. When did he say we should go?" he replies. "Immediately," I answer, springing out of my bed and grabbing his arm. "Let's go," I say with a wink and I take off, dragging him with me.

"Woah, okay then!" he calls as we rush through the halls of the dropship and we stop in front of an escape pod. I look up at him as he opens the door and we jump inside, me taking the pilots seat and Abe taking the co-pilots. "You ready?" I ask, looking over at him, suddenly grateful to have met him and to have met the whole hunter team. He nods, "as ready as I'll ever be." Then, without a second thought, we take off.

"Slim!" Sunny calls out, looking around their cave for him. "Yeah?" he calls back from the entrance. "Oh, there you are!" she says gently, running up to the entrance, where the blistering heat of the sun gently pours into the small cave they live in. "I thought you left to go hunting for a second there," she says, with a hint a joy in her voice. He chuckles softly, looking back at her. "I wouldn't ever leave you without saying something," is all he says. She smiles and walks up closer, throwing her arms around his bare bug-like chest. He stiffens, but then touches her arms and pushes them off of him. Sunny frowns at his disinterest, but doesn't back away.

Suddenly, Slim smiles and whips around and pulls Sunny against him, making her gasp in surprise. Her frown leaves her and she smiles so bright that the sun is almost as bright. _Almost._ He leans closer to her and they both laugh, their faces warm from their own body heat. "I love you, I hope you know that," Sunny says in between their laughs. He nods then closes the gap between them, and Sunny gasps at the sudden feel of his full body on hers. He keeps his dry, yet warm lips on hers as they move deeper into the cave until they fall over and onto the bed. They laugh as they spate for that brief moment, but Slim quickly closes the gap again. Sunny deepens the kiss more and more, and Slim runs his three-fingered hand down her back while Sunny keeps her hands on his waist. The buzzing of a ship overhead breaks them apart, but once it fades away into the distance they explode into each other again, refusing to let go.

Slim moves his head to the right pushing back against Sunny's force. Sunny laughs softly against his mouth but doesn't give up. She pushes back so hard that he flops over, leaving Sunny on top of him, their lips still together. "We have to find them Abe!" a familiar female voice says from above them. They break apart despite Slim's groans of protest. "Is that?" Sunny starts put the roars of two jetpacks interrupt her. "Maybe they're down there?" a familiar deep male voice says back to the female. "Caira and Abe?" Slim finishes, getting off of their bed and picking up his leech gun from the right corner of the cave. Sunny springs out of bed as well, picking up her mini nuke grenade launcher. "Let's see what's going on," Slim says, pushing a brown curl behind Sunny's ears.

"Alright," I reply, hovering down the steep mountain. "If we actually find them this fast I'll cry," I mutter to mostly myself, even though Abe's eyes light up as if he heard me. "Caira? Abe?" a bug-like male voice calls from below us. Abe and I look down together, seeing a hair full of brown curls and huge bug eyes. "Slim! Sunny!" I cry out with tears in my eyes, hearing Parnell's voice in my head again. I hover down to them and feel the Earth on my feet as Abe lands next to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You two are here. You two are _actually_ here!" I cry. They nod, looking confused and concerned. "We need your help. The monsters, there's something going on. We need to get to the refueling tower, can you help?" I ask, specifically trying to avoid Sunny's gaze. Slim and Sunny nod tiredly and walk closer. "It's not far from here, you guys came in a ship I'd imagine, so it'll take about five minutes tops," Sunny says, also avoiding my gaze.

"Then let's go. The quicker the better," Abe says immediately ascending up to the landing platform. Sunny and Slim roll their eyes playfully and follow him. I bite my lower lip, wondering how Parnell thought this was a good idea, but I follow without another word. I touch feel the cool metal of the landing platform through my dark gloves as I fling myself over it and look around for the others. Abe, Slim, and Sunny are all waiting for me by the escape pod already. I smile and run as fast as I can over to them, my right leg stumbles here and there from my stomach injury, but I join them as the walk up to the escape pod. "Let's go. I'll fly," Sunny says. All the hatred I've contained ever since Sunny was revived comes out and into my eyes. "No, just give me directions," I say angrily. Sunny staggers back in shock, and prepares to fight back.

"Don't you dare," Slim hisses at Sunny. She looks down but nods. "Why can't she fly?" Slim says, stepping in front of his girlfriend. "After what she has done to me, I don't trust her. Please just let me fly," I try to explain. He shakes his head. "She's the best pilot here, not to mention that _you_ came to _us_ for help. Also, this will probably be your last time talking to us for a very, very long time. So, I say we let her fly," Slim says boldly, not backing away. Abe stands beside me and stares at them with empathy. "I'm sorry Slim, I know you love her and trust her, but that doesn't make what she did any better. Caira was almost killed," he replies. Slim jumps forward at Abe and tackles him to the ground, his hand locked in a very weird looking fist.

"May I remind you that _you_ are the one who shot Sunny! We could've resolved this together if you just _talked_ to your friend! But no! It's all about Caira! Caira! Caira! Caira! You bitch! All you know is how to protect yourself and your pitiful girlfriend!" he screams. My heart jumps at his last sentence, but it only prepares me to react faster. I jump forward and grab Slim's hand that is shaped into a fist and whip him onto his back. He screams in pain and flies his fist around, hitting me square in the jaw. I gasp put hold manage to hold down his arms while Abe gets up and holds his knees down. He snarls at us in protest, and Sunny looks too stunned to move. "You alright?" I ask Sunny. Her eyes blink once and she shakes her head viciously, as if trying to get out of a nightmare.

"Y-yeah. What do you care though?" she says, anger sparking in her tone. "We tried to be friendly Caira, but no, you had to bring the past into this!" she growls running over and grabbing hold of my hair and dragging me off of Slim. Slim punches Abe's face and he staggers back, giving Slim enough time to jump up and square around for a fight. I put my fists in front of me, knowing that she would strike first. Sunny steps forward, her right hand shaped in a fist coming at my face. I quickly duck and kick out from underneath her, hitting cleanly through her legs and sending her straight onto the metal escape pod floor. She groans and I step back, seeing her swinging her legs around to get up. She regains her footing and stands up, growling in disgust.

This time she steps to my left and I step back, seeing her fist aiming for my stomach this time. Smart choice, since I'm injured there, but I'm too swift to let her lack of training fool me. I bounce to the side at the last second, her fist catching my elbow. I wince at the sudden impact, but I garb some of Sunny's curly brown hair and _pull._ She screams in pain as I kick the inside of her knee with my own knee, and I throw her onto the floor, a few pieces of curls in my right hand. I look back, seeing Abe leaning over Slim with a smile on his face. "You are beaten," he murmurs into Slim's ear. I smile, but feel my legs give out and I hit the floor, and suddenly Sunny is on top of me. "Nice try, but you got distracted," Sunny smirks. "Oh yeah?" I question, seeing that her right knee isn't secured over my right knee properly. I twist my leg and she gasps in shock, which gives me enough time to squeeze my left arm out of her grasps and throw her off of me.

"I could say the same to you," I say as I flip myself back onto my feet. "Let's do this," she growls. "How about you attack first instead?" she smirks. I nod, putting a smile of my own on. I set up an angle for her left side, and I step to her left, she sees the bold move and attempts to block, but at the last second I jump back and punch her right in her stomach. She winces but manages to dodge my next punch aimed for her face. She manages to grab my arm and throw me against the escape pod controls. A lever digs into my back, but I don't feel it. I see her rushing right at me, thinking that I am distracted by the sudden force inflicted on me. I smile as she inches closer and I jump to the right, causing her to crash right into the controls. I laugh at how gullible she is and I wrap my arms around her back and whip her above my head and onto the ground, she screams in agony, her face against the floor, and she doesn't move. "Sunny?" Slim asks from his position on the ground. "I'm okay," she replies with a groan. "We do this my way, or you die," I growl. "We won't take this kind of shit from you. We are trying to save a whole planet here. If I were you, I'd listen after the way we just kicked you ass."

Abe rises to stand next to me. Slim stand with a groan and Sunny tosses herself onto her side. "I don't care what happens out there," she sighs, "I will never do anything for you again." Her voice fades in and out of my mind as I sit in the pilot's seat, and I close the door. Then, we take off.


	15. Chapter 13

Chapter 13!

 **I know I'm late but in my defense, I did get the next chapter fully revised as well so no more talking! Just enjoy! Oh wait!** **I meant to start something that I've seen many other fanfiction writers do…. I want to start goals** **J** **I know a lot of people like this story but no one really wants to follow/fav and I don't want to ask for that I'm not a greedy person lol but I would like to ask for at least three reviews? Maybe? If I get two, I'll release chapter 15 right after I do chapter 14(coming soon after this chapter) and if I get three chapter 16 and 17 will come out together about two days later. So yeah. Enjoy and don't forget to leave your reviews! Here's some help for later in the chapter: Pronunciations: Hicinlide- Hi-cin-lide… Golithus- Go-lith-is… Krakus- Krak (first part of Kraken) us… Wraius- Wra-i-us… Behemus- Behe-mis… Gorus- Gor-is…. Don't thank me just doing my job** **J**

"Stop it!" Sunny hisses as I drag her outside of the ship. The sun shoots down on all four of our faces as we stand up outside in the land of Shear. Shear was always the kind of place scientists expected to have the most life. Well, in a way they're right. Shear isn't just made up of a lot of animals though. The beautiful view from on top of the mountains, the peaceful atmosphere, and even the rock structures that looks like an artists' sculpture in the desert are all apart of the amazing things about Shear. I never really admired Shear when I first came, but then again nowadays Shear has fallen. Monsters walking about, the whole planet burning, and the loss of water is a pretty big negative to this place, but then again, I've only really thought about how the monsters got here.

"Come on! We won't hurt you just untie us!" Slim groans, squirming under Abe's strong grasp. Abe. I never thought about love until I met him. Life is too short is what I always told myself, but now it seems like it takes a million years just to get through one hour. "Caira, what do you say," Abe asks, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Might as well. We don't have much time," I reply, pushing Sunny forward as Abe starts untying Slim's restraints. Once he's done with Slim he gracefully swings himself behind Sunny and unties her. Abe walks over to my side and sighs as we watch our two 'prisoners' hug each other. Though they are turned away from us, I can still hear inaudible whispers coming from their direction.

"Are you sure this is right. Caira, I don't want to doubt you, but maybe it was just a dream. Don't be so quick to do something for a dead person who visited you in your dreams," Abe says, putting his hand on my shoulder. "I feel bad about bringing them along, but I do think that this is worth it. No matter the cost. I may have loved Parnell like a brother, but I'm not the kind to dream of a dead person," I say, keeping my gaze focused on Slim and Sunny as they slowly back away from each other. "Let's go then," Abe says, leaving my side to walk towards Slim and Sunny. I follow as Slim and Sunny start walking straight across the mud.

The sun still beams in my eyes as it goes below the horizon and the mud that sink into my shoes and socks are no comfort. Though there are a lot of trees above us, they don't protect us at all. We walk in silence, even Abe, who has now returned to my side, stays silent. It's safer not to ask why though, I already know what they're thinking.

After what feels like hours and hours of walking, we reach a single concrete path that stretches upwards and I see the large building right at the top labeled _refueling tower_. "We're here, but be careful. Look around, be dead silent and meet here in an hour. Everyone goes alone," I whisper to everyone. "Alone? In shear of all places?" Slim asks, his expression clouded with concern. "Trust me. I'll go right inside, everyone else, choose your direction." I run up the hill, my grenade launcher on napalm in my hands. My jetpack springs to life as I jump upwards and it brings me into the air. I gently float down right in front of the refueling tower, and instinctively I look up and see a huge black tower soaring hundreds upon hundreds of feet in the sky.

A cage is also there. Well, two cages actually, but what could be in there? "No! Help!" Abe's voice screams from the forest to my left. "Abe!" I call back, rushing off in the direction of his voice. I'm running through endless trees, following the echoing sounds of footsteps and silently praying that Abe didn't run into a monster. "Abe! Abe!" I yell as the footsteps evade my hearing range. "No, please," I whimper, still running straight.

Suddenly I crash into a huge rock wall and I fall to the muddy Earth, my vision going dark. "Ugh," I groan as I lean up and rub the back of my head. I blink twice and see an opening on the right of the rock wall. A cave. I jump to my feet despite the sudden burst of pain and sprint off towards the opening. As soon as I reach it I hear screaming. Abe's screaming. I run forward, the darkness of the cave consuming my vision. I turn back and can't see the opening anymore. I hear hissing all around me and I know now. This is a trap.

"No, please," I say, starting to pant. "Caira Diaz, is it? Field researcher, youngest catalog member, very talented and bold scientist," a low growl of a female voice says from above me. "Welcome to our home," she hisses. I look in every direction but all I see is darkness. Darkness, darkness, darkness! "Who's there! Show yourself!" I snap back, forcing myself to stay calm. "Oh, my dear, it's not a who," she says, and I large thump sound that shakes the earth underneath me occurs from behind me, "it's a what." What the hell is going on? I just want to see Abe and Slim, and hell, I'd rather see Sunny right now. To my left a bubble of light flickers on, but no joke it's literally a bubble of light. I look behind me and see exactly what I feared standing there. A Gorgon. Probably a queen Gorgon though.

The creature laughs at my shocked expression and jumps back to the ceiling of the cave. "How can you talk? How do you know my name?" I half ask, half yell. "Well your name was easy, the little boy kept screaming it. Humans are so much _work_ ," she says in exasperation. "Abe! What did you do to him!" I scream. The creature laughs but doesn't move from her spot. "Nothing yet my dear, and we're not here to hurt either of you. In fact, we called you here in the form of your best friend," she says, jumping back in front of me.

"What do you want from me?" I ask, my feet staggering back as the creature moves closer. My mind has been in millions of different places before, but right now I can't think of anything to keep me calm. A Gorgon, the newest, strangest and hardest to beat monster is standing right in front of and isn't killing me. Hell, she's _talking._ "We came to warn you. Shear will be destroyed," it starts, and her eyes wander the dark cave. "No duh, we already figured that out. You guys caused this. Wait a minute how the fuck can you speak?" The Gorgon laughs, and an echo of both female and male laughs occur behind her.

I jump back as four blue eyes glow from behind her. "I am Krakus, god of monsters," he says in a very deep and old voice. Another creature lights up with fire burning inside of the human shaped figure. Goliath. "I am Golithus, god of Goliath's," he says, walking over to join the Gorgon. "I am Wraius, Queen of illusions and controller of evolution," a female voice says from behind Golithus, and black smoke sparks out from behind the barely visible figure of the Wraith. "I am Behemus, god of Behemoths," a low male voice chokes out, his footsteps send chills down my spine as he walks to join the others. "And I am Gorus, Queen of all monsters," the Gorgon says in a dominant tone. "What the hell is going on! Where the hell is Abe! Tell me this is just a nightmare," I say, backing away from the voices. "Caira, you are a scientist, you've been trying to figure us out. Where we came from, how we evolve, how we form. All of those answers are in front of you. Do you really want to turn your back on your career? On Abe? I wouldn't if I were you," Wraius says, her voice kind and reassuring.

"Why should I believe any of this?" I practically scream, my eyes red and puffy with tears. "You know deep down inside that this is real. And we can speak your language because we used to live on Earth," Gorus explains, her voice echoing throughout the cave. "We were animals. All of us. We evolved through ways that any textbook of yours can explain," Wraius chimes in. "We only want to help you Caira, for you've lost so much like us. If we answer your questions and you are able to prove to everyone else that this is how we got where we are, then maybe humans could finally send us back to the hell we came from. Hunting and killing is in our blood, but we don't want to hurt anyone Caira," Krakus says, the other outlines of the monster's nod in agreement.

"This is crazy," I say, rubbing my hands against my cheeks. "We know dear," Gorus says, her voice now low and filled with sadness. "When we got off of Earth, the ship we were on malfunctioned and exploded, leaving us in dead space. We should've died, we wish we died, but that didn't happen. We were exposed to some kind of substance while near Shear's atmosphere, where our ship exploded. We survived and fell to Shear, then the chemicals we were exposed to reacted with how we ate and hunted. Now, here we are. Eggs are laid by Gorus, Krakus controls lightning which controls our evolving power, Golithus trains our children, Wraius controls our territory and I am the primary killer. The one who goes out hunting for more space for our colonies. Now I know this probably doesn't make any sense, but please stay calm, we don't want to hurt you," Behemus says, his voice still low and deep. I shake my head, baffled by what he has just said.

"What chemical were you exposed to," I ask, forcing all of my questions to stay on my tongue. "We don't know," Gorus starts, "Hicinlide," Wraius interrupts. My eyes expand, and my legs start to shake. Hicinlide is dangerous to anything that comes in contact with it. It was a chemical found on, well, Shear. Deep in the bottom of the lakes, meaning not only were they exposed to the chemical, they were also drinking it and the blood of animals that have drank it. "You know what Hicinlide is, I assume?" Behemus questions, and even though I can only see the fire coming from his feet, I can feel his intense gaze burning on me. "Unfortunately, I do. Anything that comes in contact with the substance either dies or their cells start slowly decreasing, or the rarest thing," my voice trails off, they know this already, so why repeat what they know. "The rarest thing being that the cells rapidly multiply, and the animal turns into a beast until it's body can no longer support it. Well Caira, you're looking at the result of the rarest thing Hicinlide can produce," Wraius says, her voice warm and steady.

"I'm s-so sorry, but just, _what? How?_ How did you leave Earth?" The figures look at each other, as if debating which one will tell me with a single glance. "Caira, everyone here has known each other a long time," Wraius says, looking directly at the figure standing next to here, Golithus, "It's hard to explain but when we were normal animals, we hated our lives and knew that we needed to do something. Our species was becoming extinct, so we had to flee. Start new lives, new children, new homes. We ran right into the international space center at the time, NASA. They took us in and brought us to space, like we hoped. And then we got here."

"What the actual hell is going on," I whisper to myself, but I know with their enhanced hearing they heard me. "Caira, you need to bring us a counter to Hicinlide. Anything that can kill us once and for all. We can't resist our instincts much longer. If we go on like this for more than three days, all of Shear will be destroyed," Wraius says. "What do you mean three more days?" I ask, my hair blowing into my face from an opening somewhere behind me. "In three days, the true Hicinlide affect will come out. We wouldn't be able to even try to control ourselves. Shear will be gone and the whole solar system with it," Golithus says, his fire burning bright inside of him with every word. "But Abe," I start, but they cut me off with a single movement of their hands. "He's fine. And that's the bargain. You bring us our answer, we give you Abe," Krakus says.

"Fine," I say with a snarl, feeling more and more wind surround me. "Now go! Your other two friends are almost at the rendezvous point. Which it may have only felt like five minutes to you, but time goes much faster in this cave and it has been fifty-nine minutes since you entered. Leave and only come back if you have the counter," Behemus says, his voice no longer echoing off of the cave walls. I nod and turn around, seeing the moonlight hit my face all at once. It almost hurts me to leave, all of my answers, everything I've been looking for is right there but I have to go. I must get the counter. The only counter to Hicinlide is Forim, a highly deadly chemical that never mixes well with anything. As soon as the monsters find a way to drink the chemical, they'll be dead within thirty seconds. Time to go hunting for the true threat of Shear.

Wraius PoV

"Do you think this is right? Putting all that pressure on one girl who was scared shitless?" Golithus asks as we both sit in our room that is normally always dark, but our eyes make it seem like the sun is in this room. "You know what I think," I reply, putting my claw in his hand. "I miss the old days. She knows the counter, I can tell, so this may be the door to the old days," I say, putting my tiny head against his burning neck. "We're not monsters, you know that right?" he asks, squeezing my claw with his hand. I nod in his neck and I feel happiness and longing coming from him. "It'll all be over soon. She believed us, so now all we have to do is wait, she'll be back very soon for her boyfriend," I whisper into his neck.

"I guess," he mumbles. "This reminds me of back when we were young monsters and the hunters first showed up. Our son got kidnapped here and we vowed to search every end of this planet until he was found. I remember how you sobbed in your room for hours," he says. "How does this remind you of that?" I ask, the memory of my son flooding back into my brain. "I remember knowing that as long as we monsters still have feelings, it means we're not fully gone yet. I see and hear your crying every time I close my eyes. It makes me feel truly alive again. Now since we actually have a chance at a future again, it reminds me of my feelings," he finishes, his fire is starting to make my head very hot.

"No matter what happens, I love you," I say, shifting my whole body towards him. He sighs with relief and shifts towards me. Our energy feels identical and I can almost hear the gentle beating of his heart in the silent room.

"I love you too."

 **Yoooo. I know I had an author's note at the beginning but now shit is really getting real. What will happen next you may ask? Well trust me, chapter 14 will be up shortly. Sorry that this chapter is kind of boring, but next chapter they'll be a lot of action! And I'm not going to hurt Abe I promise! (maybe muhahahahaha) Remember that Evolve Stories of Monsters Fanfic I was writing? Yeah well that is kind of related to this ;) ;) *nudge* *nudge*. Well goodbye for now!** :D


	16. Chapter 14

Chapter 14!

Caira PoV

"Slim!" I call, looking down at the two figures at the rendezvous point. "Sunny!" I call as I come up behind them. They turn around panting, Sunny's eyes are wide open and Slim is shaking- but that may be just the rain making us all look damp. "What's wrong?" I ask as they continue to just stare. "We saw a monster. A Gorgon and it saw us. We thought for sure it was over, but it just growled and walked away like it didn't see us," Slim says, his voice is a deep whisper in the rain. "The same thing happened to me, except there were more than just one monster." They stand there, looking confused. "I saw all five of the monsters. They took Abe and somehow- I don't fucking know! They started speaking our language! They explained how they got here and how if I want to see Abe again I have to bring them a counter for Hicinlide!" I explain rapidly, my voice shaking more and more with every word. "I thought I was going crazy! I didn't realize that this wasn't a dream until it started raining. I can feel the rain. It can't be a dream, right?" I ask, my knees giving out as I slump to the ground. "Abe," I whisper. Slim kneels beside me and puts his hand on my shoulder.

"If you believe them, then I'll help you, but how are we going to find Forim in time?" Slim whispers in my ear. "I have some back on Earth. My office has every chemical known to man. We need to do this Slim," I say, locking my gaze on his eyes. He nods and motions Sunny over. "I have a plan," he says with a smile.

Abe's PoV

"Hello!" I scream, desperately trying to tear my arms free of these stick-like objects holding me against the cave wall. "Hello there, Abe," a female voice says from above me. "Caira?" I immediately ask, searching the dark cave for her figure. The girl only laughs and a huge _boom_ sound hits the cave ground. My eyes widen as the figure of a Gorgon stands in front of me. "What the hell!" I scream, desperately trying to break free. "She left around an hour ago," she says in a mocking tone. "I can see why you love her though, she is very smart and brave. She did practically cry on our cave floor, but oh well," she says with a laugh.

"What did you do to her!" I scream as the Gorgon comes closer to me. Every footstep she takes- she, he I don't know I'm not assuming genders here- sends shivers down my spine. "Nothing my dear, she went off to go save _your_ life actually. We wouldn't hurt our only chance at redemption. We apologize for your friend by the way, what was his name? Parnell I think? Golithus sends his apologies, he doesn't know how his student was capable of killing in cold blood." She laughs and jumps to the wall next to me, her terrible smelling breath goes right up my nose and makes me gag in surprise and disgust. "Get the fuck away from me," I manage to choke out. "Oh, I would, but for every day your girlfriends gone the closer we get to killing you, so enjoy me being this close without tearing you apart my dear," she says, purposely breathing right in my face. "Why is she not back yet then?" I ask, turning my face away from hers.

"Well let's see, we kind of asked her to get the counter for Hicinlide," she says, her voice now serious. "Forim!" I snap back, my head turns to meet her numerous eyes again. "Yes, my dear, for we monsters are made up of Hicinlide. We evolved off of it. We don't want to hurt anyone, I promise, but the Hicinlide in our blood is so strong we can't resist the smell of blood," she says, springing to the ceiling. "Then how are you resisting it right now?" I ask, my voice still shaking. She chuckles lightly, "We trained ourselves how to resist, but it only lasts so long. That's why I waited a good two hours after seeing Caira to see you, so I wouldn't be tempted by the blood." I shake my head violently and my dark hair falls into my face, blocking my line of sight on her. Wait a minute, my hat. Where's my fucking hat! "What did you do with my hat!"

The Gorgon looks shocked but seconds later she starts giggling. "You're more concerned about your hat then why I can talk? Fucking moron," she says, leaping away from me. Her footsteps echo all the way down the cave until she's truly gone. Whatever just happened, I can tell it wasn't good. Hopefully that doesn't happen again until Caira comes for me. Maybe she doesn't really love me. Maybe she left me because she was planning this from the beginning. Maybe she's in love with Slim after all. Ugh! What the hell is wrong with me! No way any of that is true! She loves me and cares about me as much as I love and care about her! But still, why would she just leave me? I was awake all this time, she could've demanded them to take her to me. The Gorgon seems to love human problems, so she probably would've told me if she did something like that. Maybe this is all just a big misunderstanding. I'm really hoping that's all it is. If it's not, well, then I don't know what I'd do with myself if Caira were to leave my life.

Caira's PoV

"I agree, how about you Caira?" Sunny says, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I agree as well, but we need to move fast, we only have three days," I reply, my voice slightly shaking. "Hey!" a familiar female voice calls from behind us. We all snap around and see Val in her full medic gear standing there, her arms crossed and her sniper swung over her back. "Val!" I call, starting to stand to join her. "You guys just left without telling me? We've been worried sick!" she calls back. We meet each other's eyes and smile at each other, truly gratefully to see each other again. After a spilt second of standing a bullet flies through the air from behind us and hits Val right under her chest, where her bulletproof armor is weakest. She gasps as another bullet sinks into her chest and she falls to the ground, her skin now pale. "Val!" I scream, running towards her and not even glancing back to see who shot the bullet. I've lost way too much, I can't lose my best friend now. She truly understood every scientific thing I would ramble on about, and I just _can't lose that._ I approach her trembling body and her breathing is coming in at a rapid pace. "Calm down Val, it'll be okay," I say as I start to grab my grenade launcher from my back. "No!" she yells, putting her hand up with all of her strength. "I know who did this, and I don't blame him. I'm nothing more than a lying spy," she says, her body shaking rapidly. "No Val, you're not a lying spy! You're my friend, a scientist, you've helped me through _everything_. Now let _me_ help _you_ ," I plea, but she shakes her head.

"Is it over?" she asks, still shaking from underneath me. My eyes are loaded with tears that I know I can't hold back much longer. "What?" I ask, gently brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "The constant missions, the bullying, the nightmares," her eyes light up with happiness and she smiles, "it finally is." Her body stops shaking and her breathing stops. I close her eyes and my tears pour out of me. My body shakes and I cradle Val's bloody body in my arms, my white medic shirt now red. "No! Please! Not like this! Not like this!" I whimper, sobbing against her shoulder. "Come back! Please! Wake up!" I scream. My tears start making Val's armor wet and I slowly pull away. She died in my arms, she died trying to see if I was alright. She _followed_ us completely on her own because she cared so much. The least I could do is show respect.

 _The constant missions, the bullying, the nightmares._ Her words repeat in my mind over and over again. "Caira, I'm so sorry," Slim says from behind me, wrapping his arms around me as I cling to Val's body. "You won't get away with this!" Sunny growls from behind us. "Like you did?" a familiar male's voice says. Sunny hisses at him and I hear her push the man to his knees. "You _killed_ her! You hurt the person you secretly loved! How could you!" she screams. "Val was my friend too! How could you! How did you even get here!" I turn around and see the assault seating there with no remorse on his face. Markov. "What the fuck!" I yell, and I carefully put down Val's body and Slim remains kneeling over her corpse, paying his respects. "Why! Just, why! How!" I scream, running up to him and barely holding back a punch. Sunny looks shocked at how I haven't punched him yet, but she doesn't speak. "I don't know how. I don't know why," he whispers, but it's barely audible over the rain. "What the hell? Where the fuck am I?" he suddenly says, his voice turning to panic. "You _killed_ Val! My best friend! The one who would always listen to me and respect me! You son of a bitch!" I scream, but I can't hold back anymore. I punch him square in the jaw and he gasps and falls onto his back. "I may have killed her Caira, but my mind wasn't killing her. I was being controlled by Lazarus!" he pleas.

"Yeah right, care to explain!" I hiss, Sunny's expression turns to anger with mine. "Hicinlide, Lazarus tricked me into letting him experiment on me. I don't know how. You can take me back to a lab and test my blood I swear the Hicinlide was controlling me!" he desperately explains. "I loved Valerie Caira!" he says, starting to sob into the ground. I growl but nod, "let's see if you're telling the truth." Sunny springs towards him and grabs his hands. "If you're lying, you're dead," she growls in his ears as she shoves him forward. Slim picks up Val's body, and my sadness and anger consume me and I slump down to my knees. "Caira, I can't carry you, I'm sorry, we have to go. I know you're strong enough to move." I nod, "just give me a minute." He nods with a sad look on his face and takes off after Sunny, and now I know what I need to do.

I need to rescue Abe. No matter what the cost is. Even if I lose my life like Val's.

Slim's PoV

"It's been five minutes, I'm going back for her," I say as Sunny powers up the engines. "Alright, please be careful," she says, slipping into the pilot's seat. I nod and practically jump out of the ship, my legs burning when I hit the muddy ground. After a good five minutes of running I finally found the rendezvous point and look around for the familiar black hair and medic armor. "Caira?" I call out to the darkness. My bug-like skin is getting hit constantly with rain and my eyes are only good for so much, but I can tell she's not here. "God dammit Caira where did you go?" I whisper as I search the concrete ramp. I look to my left and see her armor and napalm launcher just sitting there, but not one piece of the equipment is torn at all. She took it off herself. She left here on purpose. Did she run away? Go looking for a peaceful place to mourn?

I look closer and now I know. Right next to her armor is Abe's hat. She went looking for him, and I doubt she's ever coming back.

Caira's PoV

"Let me the fuck in!" I scream, pounding my fists against the cave wall. My pale skin is now practically bleeding but I don't care. I found Abe's hat in the middle of the forest, and that was all I needed to convince myself that I need to save him. The cave wall falls into tiny particles of dust and I jump inside, my teeth biting into my cheeks, almost drawing blood. "Where is he!" I scream, not bothering to look around for Gorus or any other monster god. "Where's the counter?" Wraius asks from above me. "I don't see anything in your hands my dear, so no seeing him until I see you have a counter!" Gorus hisses from my left.

I feel the weight of my medical bag hanging on my shoulder and I tap it, and I can feel their relief washing all over their faces. "What is the counter called dear?" Gorus asks, jumping down next to me. "Forim, but you don't get it until I see him!" I hiss, pulling the bag into my chest carefully. "Plus, Forim needs to be treated carefully. You have to wait at least twelve hours before even touching it. Once twelve hours pass, you must pour the whole bottle into a small lake and drink from it. All of you. Doesn't matter how much because once the Forim hits the Hicinlide in your system, boom. Thirty-seconds tops," I say, carefully placing the bag on the ground.

"My dear it's only been an hour; how did you possibly find the Forim that quick?" Gorus asks with a snarl, as if she doesn't believe me. And she has every right not to. "My friends and I came up with a plan, but one of my friends got assassinated," I choke out the words but force myself to stay strong, "so I ran off and into the refueling tower. Turns out that Forim isn't as deadly as I thought. It mixes well with natural fuel, so they had a lot of Forim stored there, and with the monsters crawling around, no one was there to guard it. Easy."

Gorus laughs, Wraius stays silent, and I can feel all of the other monsters' gazes on me. "How did we not think of that?" Gorus says in between her endless and mocking chuckles. "I want to see him. Please," I say, shifting closer to the bag. "Fine. Follow me," Wraius says, her tentacles gliding on the dirt floor. I follow close behind, watching the bag until I bump into Wraius. "I just wanted to apologize for dragging you into our problems. The others aren't grateful at all for your help, but Golithus and I are. I'm sorry about your friend too. Golithus and I are probably the least savage of everyone here, we love each other and it reminds us on how to feel, well I guess human," she explains softly.

"Thanks," is all I say since I see the man of my dreams tied up in stick-like objects against the wall. "Can we have a minute please Wraius?" I ask. She nods understandingly and turns around. After she floats away I run up to Abe and he picks his head up exhaustedly, his eyes can't seem to find me. "Abe, Abe, please look at me," I softly say, putting my hands on his face. "C-Caira? You came back for me?" his voice says, his eyes finally locking with mine. I lightly laugh and nod, then wrap my arms around his neck. "I missed you," I whisper, his lips tug into a smile. "I thought you left me," he says, the smile still on his lips. "I only left because they forced me to. I'm getting you out of here though. I'm sorry about them taking you, I wish it was me instead," I say, my smile fading with his. "It's okay, we're going to make it through this. Together. Like we always have." I nod and look at the sticks holding him up. My 'healing' launcher is in the medical bag and my napalm launcher is back with my armor so Slim knows where I've gone.

I tug at the sticks but they don't budge. I try a rock, then another that's sharper, and even huge rocks. Nothing's working. "I have a knife in my boot," Abe says after I start to give up hope for rescuing him. "You could've said that at anytime you know," I say joking and I pull out the knife and start to break through the sticks. "Caira, you two alright? You've been with him a while," Wraius says from behind the cave wall. "I'm sorry this is taking so long, but yes it's alright. Can you ask the others to release Abe now since I did my part of the bargain?" I ask, slipping the knife back into Abe's boot. "Of course," Wraius says, and I hear her glide off. "I'm getting you out of here," I say, putting my hand against his cheek. He smiles and nods, "I know."

 **Hey! Did you enjoy this chapter? I hope you did because chapter 15 may not come out until like eight o'clock eastern time. I'll be at softball for a while I'm sorry** **L** **I haven't finished revising it yet. Good news though! The sequel to this will be twenty-six chapters long and I've officially started the outline! Anyway, since I've been gone for a month now I decided to post two chapters in one day. This was actually going to be posted** ** _tomorrow_** **at like 8 o'clock but I decided to stay up a bit and read the last paragraph a few times. I didn't know how to end it** **L** **I hope it's fine, next chapter is MUCH longer, like five thousand words. Hopefully you all enjoy next chapter** **J** **Goodbye, don't forget to leave reviews, follows, and favs!**


	17. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"You're so bad," he says with a smile. "I may be bad but I'm perfectly good at it," I reply with a mischievous smile. I slip the knife back into my hand and break the remaining sticks holding him up. They break away and he falls forward, and I barely catch him in time. "Thanks," he says breathlessly. I nod against his shoulder and slip the knife into his boot. "This way," I say, grabbing his hand and dragging him into the darkness. "Are you sure?" he asks as no visible light is ahead of us. "The farther away we are from the monsters the better," I whisper, breaking away from him. "Stop them!" I hear Gorus hiss out from far behind us. "I have a plan," I say as I hear the footsteps of multiple monsters coming closer and closer.

We turn a corner and multiple rocks are loose on the wall. "Knife!" I yell to Abe. He turns around and throws me the knife and somehow, I catch it perfectly. I hear the Goliath's footsteps first and bang the knife against the weakest point and the rocks fall as I turn tail and run. "Go! Go! Go!" I scream, hearing the angry snarls of all five monsters behind us. My eyes burn as light floods into my vision and Abe is already out of the cave. "Abe! Get to the rendezvous point!" I call to him as his figure leaves my sight.

Suddenly I feel claws around me and I know I've been caught. "You little bitch! You didn't even bring us Forim! Just some stupid grenade launcher!" Gorus growls, kicking my launcher out. I'm so close to the launcher I can feel it. I reach my hands down in the darkness and my hands wrap around the launcher. "You're wrong bitch. I did bring you the cure," I say, smiling in the darkness. I swing my launcher over my shoulder and pull the trigger, the Forim smell filling the air. The Gorgon staggers back in agony and my back hits the floor. "Gorus!" Wraius cries. "Now prepare to die," I say, spewing out grenades randomly. I hear numerous cries and I jump to my feet and run. "Gorus! Behemus! Krakus!" I hear Wraius cry. "Eat shit bitches!" I scream as I run out of the cave. I immediately see Abe's figure running off further and further away from me.

"Caira!" I hear Wraius hiss from behind me. I snap around and hold up my launcher. She holds her claws out in defense and slowly backs up, and Golithus comes out behind her, he also puts his claws out in defense. "Back the fuck up or you'll end up like your friends!" I hiss, starting to slowly back away. "Caira, do you have any idea what you have just done. All monsters will go savage and destroy everything in sight!" Wraius cries. She drops to the ground, her tentacles curled up as if she's kneeling. Her claws hit the ground and she softly cries. Golithus kneels down with her to provide consolation. "We wanted to end our lives. Why couldn't you just listen!" Wraius chokes out through her endless sobs. My hands tighten around the launcher until my knuckles become a ghostly pale. "Please, just kill us!" Wraius yells desperately. "I want to see my son again!" she screams, falling into Golithus's arms. Golithus looks up at me through a sorrow expression and nods. "Please, let us see our son again," he says calmly, his one eye flickers back to the cave, as if expecting to see his friends come out and help Wraius. "Why didn't you just kill yourselves! There's plenty of ways to do that!" I yell, my voice and legs shaking. "Caira, you don't understand what it's like to be a monster." Golithus starts. "Yes, she does!" Wraius interrupts. "She just became one of us when she slaughtered our friends. She will never know the pain of being one of us, but she will know what it's like to kill ruthlessly," she finishes, her gaze meeting mine. "Please Caira. Finish what you started," she says, calmer and braver, as if embracing her horrible fate. I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling tears trying to come out. "I'm so sorry," I say, pulling the trigger. I open my eyes as soon as the grenade hits Wraius and splashes onto Golithus. They both fall to the ground but they still hold each-others hand harder than ever before. They don't cry though, they just keep staring at each other.

"It's over Wraius. The nightmares, the killing. Everything. Now we can rest knowing that our son will be waiting for us," I hear Golithus whisper to his dying wife. "It took too long. I thought this is what I wanted, but now I'm scared," she says, I can see the tears sparkling in her normally emotionless eyes. "I love you Wraius," Golithus says, his grip on her claw loosening. "I love you too. More than anything ever. I always will Golithus," she replies. Golithus nods and breaths one final time. "So this is what it feels like," he finally says, his breathing and body still. "Golithus," Wraius says so softly I barely hear her. She puts her free claw against his chest and takes a final breath, "thank you." I can't tell if the thank you was to me or Golithus, but it doesn't matter now. I slaughtered them without a second thought. I let them die and called them bitches. They didn't hurt Abe or me, and this is how I repay them for keeping so much control. I walk over to their corpses and drop the launcher behind me. I put my hand on Wraius's face and stifle my tears. They're monsters, why am I crying over monsters? The ones who have destroyed and hurt more than anyone or anything.

"You were so kind, I'm so sorry," I say, putting my over hand on Golithus's face. I turn around and pick up the launcher, feeling the weight of it in my hand nearly makes me crash to the ground. Despite everything that has happened, I walk forward, feeling every step burn into my ribs and stomach. I trudge through the seemingly endless brush with my launcher pounding against the ground as I practically drag it with me. They're gone. Forever. And so is Shear.

I see Abe standing at the rendezvous point as I slowly approach it. My right hand is against my side and my left is dragging my launcher. I see Abe's face filled with relief as I approach him. He immediately runs to my side and takes the launcher from my hands. "What's wrong? What happened?" he asks, pulling me into a hug. "I had a plan. And it worked," I say, biting my lip to hold back my tears. "What do you mean?" he pulls away and looks right into my eyes, his hands are on my shoulders holding me upright, but I still feel like I'm on the ground. "Val's gone," I say, my eyes widening, reliving every second of her death. "What?" he says, his eyes widening with mine. "That's not even the end! The monsters have Hicinlide in them, and I ran off when Val got assassinated. I happened to run into the refueling tower and fine Forim and load it into my launcher. When you left the cave, they caught me. The leader, Gorus kicked the launcher underneath me and I-I grabbed it," I stammer, my words coming out fast and my tears refusing to go away. I explain the rest to him in a heartbeat, and his eyes widen more and more with every word, and at the end of my explanation he hugs me again, and my weight collapses against him. My tears are still burning up in my eyes, but they don't come out. Abe and I just stand there until I hear Slim's voice calling our names from behind us. "What the fuck Caira?" Slim asks as Abe pulls away from me. "I'm sorry Slim, I really am," I reply. He sighs but nods. "I would've done the same for Sunny, so I guess it's alright."

"We have to go. The monsters are coming, and the more we wait the closer they are to us. I'll explain later, but right now we have to run," I say, and though I manage to start running I slow down and eventually stop when we're almost at the ship. "Caira come on!" Abe calls back. "I can't," I say breathlessly, falling to the ground. I hear Abe screaming and arms around me, but that doesn't matter anymore. Darkness consumes my vision and I feel my weight off of the ground, but Abe is still screaming. I only last five seconds before I pass out.

"What the hell!" I scream, snapping awake. My breathing quickens as I take in the darkness around me. I desperately try to move my arms and legs but they won't budge. I'm trapped. Why do I pass out at the most inconvenient times? "Hey! Who's there!" I scream, looking around the darkness. Is this another cave? An extremely dark room? Who the hell took me? I hear snarling and growls coming from all around me, and I can practically _feel_ someone's stare on me. "Hey little girl," I hear a deep male voice say from above me. I can feel his breath on my neck as he jumps to the ground in front of me, and I can make out the figure of a Goliath. "Not again," I say, shaking my head. "Again? So, you've been kidnapped by a monster before and tied up in a cave to be laughed at by other monsters?" he says with a laugh. "Actually, yeah. Well, without the tying up part. Name's Caira, what's yours?" I say with a mocking tone.

He freezes for a second but recovers from the shock and steps towards me like a predator approaching its prey. "Oh really? Who were your captors?" he asks, his voice bouncing around the walls. "Oh, you know, Krakus, Wraius, Behemus, Gorus, and Golithus. Who are all dead by the way. I kind of killed them. They called me to them and they begged for help. They wanted to be dead. They explained their backstory and everything. I know exactly how to kill every single monster on this planet within the blink of an eye," I say with a growl. "Oh really?" he asks, his voice may be deep but I can still hear the shock and fear in his tone. "Forim counter Hicinlide bitch," I say with a smile. Some of the shadows gasp while others stay silent. So, some know what counters them. Perfect. "You don't get to call us bitch! We trapped you! Now, when we turn into full monsters, you will be our first meal!" he growls. "Well I have nothing else to call you. You haven't actually told me your name," I spit back, and he shrinks back. "You don't get the privilege to know my name, Caira," he says with a snarl.

"Then I'll just call you bitch," I say, feeling satisfied with myself. I saved Abe, warned Slim and Abe about the monsters and now the hunters know how to kill them. Perfect. If I die here, it just means that I sacrificed myself for others. The Goliath growls but walks away along with the others. After a few seconds, I'm alone, and all I can see is Abe. What is he thinking? He's probably assembling a rescue team right now. He's probably panicking, and he has every right to. I miss him more than I did when he was taken. But now I know that I won't see him again, last time there was a chance. Why didn't I just listen to the monsters? Why didn't I just wait for them to close the bargain and hand Abe over to me? None of this would be happening right now! Then again, I wouldn't know for sure if the Forim would work, so maybe the hunters wouldn't trust me and they wouldn't use it. Who knows what will happen. All I can do now is rest. Two days until I die.

~Abe's PoV~

"We have to!" I growl as Cabot turns to face me. "We just can't risk it. We may lose people and you don't even know where she is," he replies calmly. "We know how to kill these things without any effort and we've already lost someone! Please! Cabot!" He sighs, "I'm sorry Abe, but we haven't seen them die from the Forim. This could just be in her head." I growl, "I know this is not just in her head Cabot, and I will prove it." I turn around and walk out of his office, not even waiting for his response. "I'm guessing that's a no," Emet says as I turn to face him and the team. Emet, Torvald, Kala, Hank, Hyde, Jack, and me. "We should just go. Caira has always looked out for us and this is how we repay her?" Jack asks from where he stands leaning against the wall.

I nod and so do the others. "We're a team. Until confirmed death no man left behind," Kala adds, standing next to Jack. They all nod in agreement. "The dropship can be tracked, but I have a solution," Hyde says from behind me. "Follow me," he adds, walking down the hallway with his battle gear clinking against him. Everyone nods and follows as we take a seemingly endless walk through every twist and turn of the main ship. "You sure you know where ya goin big fella?" Hank asks Hyde as he suddenly stops. He chuckles deeply in return and opens the door standing in our way, and inside of the new room, the ship I dreamed of flying is sitting there.

A breathtaking CTC 8487 sits in the middle of a seemingly deserted hanger. Though it's not very big, the lights sparkle all over her, showing her height in beauty and speed. The engine spark to life and the black ship's entrance ramp falls down, and Hyde chuckles again as he ascends to the cockpit. Jack and Kala shrug and jump after him while Torvald, Emet, and Hank shake their heads and reluctantly follow. My thoughts are all over the place. Half of my thoughts are focused on the CTC 8487 and the other half of my thoughts are on Caira. Where is she? What will we do when we get there? Follow tracks? No, it doesn't work like that. We're going in blind and against orders, so this is going to end bad one way or the other. I push my thoughts away and board the ship and Hyde immediately closes the ramp behind me and blasts off without even letting me sit down first. I luckily crash down into an empty seat next to Kala and Jack and they stifle their giggles.

As we leave the hangar the beautiful stars come into our sight. The ship's engines are barely noticeable as we soar through space and a burning Shear comes into our vision. Caira's somewhere down there, and we're coming to get her. _I'm_ coming to get her…

 **I'm sorry this is late! I hope you enjoyed and chapter 16 should be up by Saturday. I have a lot of tests to take this week so I'll be a tiny bit stressed. I meant to post this yesterday but I fell asleep, I'm sorry** **L** **Anyway remember to give me some feedback! What would you like Caira to do next? What do you want her to say to the monsters? Thank you for your encouragement and interest in my story, and as always, I'll be back soon! See you guys later!**


	18. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Caira's PoV

"What are you?" a female voice asks me, making me jolt awake. "What?" I ask, my voice slightly shaking. "There's no way you're human. No human can be exposed to Forim and live without even a tiny bit of pain," the voice bounces around the walls of the cave. "I came from Earth, and that's pretty human," I snarl back. "Relax. The others are already almost gone. They all hate me since I'm the closet to sane out of all of them. I'm the only one who can control it," she says as she steps forward, revealing her Wraith form. "I'm Pharah. Strongest warrior here. I was almost made into a goddess." I nod, trying to squeeze my hands out of the walls that are holding me. "What do you want? First dibs on eating me?" I ask, my tone remaining harsh. Her right eye socket flinches but she doesn't move back at my tone, instead she moves closer.

She is now right in front of me, her hot breath on my neck. "What is it with monsters and personal space?" I ask, pressing my back against the cave wall. "I'm sorry that I woke you, but we clearly have a problem. I'm not turning into a full monster with them. I'm trying to flee to go and kill myself. I can bust you out of here as long as I know that you have the Forim. Oh, you also dropped this and they told me to give it to you," she slides my healing launcher forward and it taps against the wall under my feet. I smile with satisfaction and look at her, "this is the Forim. I killed the Gods of monsters with it. Don't be mad, they asked." She nods and swings her claw forward, and I immediately gasp. She used me with kindness and now since she knows what Forim looks like she'll share it with the others. I squeeze my eyes shut and see Abe as the wind hits my face from her swinging claw. Suddenly I feel less weight in my body- but no pain. I open my eyes and fall to the ground, my arms and legs suddenly free and I gasp as my hand wraps around my launcher.

"Where are we?" I ask, staggering back to my feet. "Not far from the Refueling Tower. After I get you there, promise me you'll kill me," she says, the cave wall behind her opening. "I promise. I understand how it feels to want to kill and not being able to control your emotion. I wouldn't want to live if I were in your shoes too." She nods gratefully and swoops out of the cave, and I follow, my jetpack has been torn off of me, but I don't need it to keep up. "What if your monster friends show up?" I ask as my breathing starts to quicken. "Kill them," she simply says as she leads me through countless trees and bushes.

I hear the roar of an engine and look up ahead at the flat concrete landscape in front of us. A CTC 8487 lands right in the middle of the concrete opening and I hear Pharah swear under her breath. "Tell me those are your friends!" she hisses as the ramp opens. I see two unfamiliar tall males step out first, then I recognize Kala and Abe. "They are. They must have come for me!" I yell in excitement, practically tripping over my feet as I run out of the forest and closer to Abe. Abe, god I never thought that I would get out of that cave. I didn't think Cabot would approve of a rescue mission since he clearly hates me. Abe's ghost has haunted me every second I was in that cave. Seeing him, standing there, looking for me, is like a fairytale coming to life.

"Abe!" I scream, but it gets cut off by a Goliath's roar.

Abe's PoV

"We'll find her Abe," Kala says as the engines growl against the approaching landing point. "I hope," I mutter as we all stand, our battle gear shining in the light of the ship. How will we know where to go? Caira could be anywhere, and she's definitely not alone. Monsters took her, so she could be gone already. I shake away the thought as a distant howl of a Goliath echoes through the air. The monsters have truly taken over. Despite the howl and my dark thoughts, I follow Hank and Hyde down the railing and once my feet hit the ground I hear my name. "Abe!" I hear a familiar female voice call. I look in the direction of the voice and see Caira and a Wraith standing there. My eyes expand but instead of running to her a Goliath pounds down in front of us, knocking us all down. I gasp and pull myself up and hear Caira screaming something from far away, but my vision is so blurry from the sudden impact. "Abe! Come on!" Kala drags me up and I shake my head, my vision returning to normal. I nod my thanks and swing my shotgun into my hands. This might get messy.

I look around and see Caira gone, a Goliath roaring a few feet in front of us and Gorgons practically flying all over the place. There's at least five on the Refueling Tower itself, and three behind the Goliath, roaring with him. A Behemoth rolls up to the Goliath's side and a Wraith warps to the Goliath's empty side. A Kraken is flying directly above him and I know what's about to happen. We're screwed, aren't we? "Abe!" I hear Caira's voice say from above me. I look up and see her in the grasp of a Gorgon, her grenade launcher dangling from her hand. "Take it! It can kill them all!" she says as she drops the launcher and the Gorgon swings her up to where the others are perched. "Caira!" I scream back as she gets taken away from me _again._ I gab the launcher and turn around, seeing the Goliath taking Emet and Torvald on. The Gorgons are taking Kala and Hank on while Hyde's all by himself, fighting whatever's in his way.

"Leave them alone!" I scream, spewing out grenades towards the Gorgons. Jack flies in from above me and fires on the Gorgons as they fall to the ground, writhing in pain. "Burn motherfuckers! Burn!" I hear Hyde shout with a laugh that somehow, I can hear over the terrified Gorgon's screams. "What the hell did you do!" one of the dying Gorgon's hiss at me. The other two still and stop breathing while the one who hissed at me tries to stand but fails. Hyde's flamethrower is constantly filling the landscape, I hear shouts of commands coming from every direction from _every single hunter_. I would be excited. I would jump back in and help the fight without even a thought, but the image of Caira being effortlessly lifted into the air by the Gorgon haunts me every time I close my eyes. I viciously shake my head and focus on the remaining monsters. The Gorgons perched on the refueling Tower have pounced down to join the fight, the Kraken is soaring above us, the Behemoth is rolling around and trying to separate us, and the Wraith keeps sending out decoys. I turn around just in time to get grabbed and thrown to the ground by a huge fire-breathing monster. Goliath.

"This is all your fault!" he growls, picking e up and slamming me to the ground again, but this time I lose the launcher in the sudden chaos. "If your little team of hunters didn't come searching for this girl, then we wouldn't have lost those beautiful Gorgons! The one you watched die happened to be my queen!" he growls, leaning over my crushed body. "Fuck you," I spit out, turning my head back to get a visual on the launcher. "Such bold words. I will avenge my queen little one. After you are gone I will capture your friends and honor her with their corpses!" he spits in my face, "You are weak. Foolish. Not in the least brave, just plain foolish!" I chuckle at his anger and my jetpack bursts to life. "We're stronger than you think," I simply say, tipping my hat as my jetpack swings me forward, getting me on my feet again. He growls in anger and I throw out a stasis grenade and just soar over him. I land next to the launcher and turn around to see him right in front of me. I quickly dodge backwards and hit him square in the face with my shotgun, but he only uses his fire breath to burn me. I bite my lip hard to hold back from screaming in pain and fly back again, this time swooping in over the launcher and grabbing it as fast as I can.

The Goliath freezes as I hover in the air only about five feet away from him. "Maybe I was wrong to think about power. I have turned way to fast. Just end it. End it!" he growls, closing his eyes. "Maybe I was wrong to believe that monsters don't have any honor. Goodbye," I reply, firing a single grenade. He immediately falls to the ground, but he only shakes. No screaming, no howling, no calling for help. Just slight shaking. After a few seconds, he stills and I already know he's dead. Though we have the best weapon to kill monsters, I will admit it's still a challenge. "Abe!" Jack's voice calls from behind me. "We need your help! Krakens!" I look up and see a good ten Krakens flying above us. "Shit! Run!" I call, the others immediately obey and jump away from the growling monsters. We fly together and before we land I peer behind me to see only about six corpses on the ground. I killed four, meaning they killed two. Looks like the Wraith and the Behemoth. Well at least we're strong fighters. "Make them come to us!" Hyde barks out, readying his flamethrower.

The endless hordes of Krakens start covering us in lightning bolts, but we dodge as fast as we can. Man, these jetpacks work so well, I'm proud to be the creator of them. I fire everything I can into the air, hitting about three and two others falling from splash damage. Five. Five down, five left. "Dammit!" Kala screams as she hits the ground hard. "I got her!" Hank yells over the sounds of banshee mines. Hank dives downwards and I fly above him, my jetpack now in hover mode. I fire out a single grenade and hit one of the Krakens in the eye, and he roars and falls down. The other four Krakens look panicked, but they press on. I get hit in the shoulder with one of the Krakens' long-ranged melee attacks and I grunt but keep firing. I fire off three more grenades, hitting two. Three Gorgons spring forward and hiss. I guess they want some too?

Hyde throws his gas bomb and its' scent floods into the air. I gasp at the sudden terrible smell, but the sound of machine gun firing snaps me out of it. War is much harder than it looks. I fire off two grenades and hit two of the three, the third one retreats in shock. I look up at the remaining Krakens that are still fighting and carefully aim the launcher. I squeeze my right eye shut tightly and feel the trigger in my finger. I can save Caira. I can see her again. I can talk to her again, hold her again. I smile at the thought and push down on the trigger, but it jams. The clip is empty. "Dammit! It's out!" I yell, the other hunters look shocked and panicked at my words. "We got this. Two monsters, they don't stand a chance!" Jack says back, his confidence flooding into his words. "We've faced worst," Kala says. "We've _inflicted_ worse," Hyde says with a laugh. "Abe, find your girlfriend. We'll handle this," Kala says, enabling her armor reducer.

I nod my thanks and fly upward in the direction the Gorgon took Caira. She's up there, waiting for me. "Abe! No! I can see everything from here! Back away! It's a trap! The Refueling Tower has Forim, reload the launcher from there! Oh god! Stay back! No! I love-" Caira's voice gets cut off and I immediately dive back down to the interior of the Refueling Tower and jump inside the huge black, metal gates. As soon as my feet hit the ground, the smell of chemicals fill my nose and I gag but I walk forward. To my left and right huge pillars flowing with some dark liquid. I sprint forward and see countless rows of countless containers of different liquids, gases, and fuels. At least it's in alphabetical order. I sprint down, counting the letters as I go. _A, B, C, D, E, F!_ I search the countless containers labeled _F_ and I finally spot Forim. I activate my jetpack and hover directly above it. I carefully open it and see the greenish liquid is behind a glass, but there's a small hole to fill the launcher with. I take out the round grenade at the top of the launcher and stick it to the hole. It dings and the grenade fills up with the green liquid. After not even a minute, it's full and I take it out and close the container. I place the grenade back in the launcher and jetpack my way out of the Refueling Tower, seeing the others barking out orders and flying around.

"I'm coming Caira," I whisper, soaring up in the direction of the voice. I come up to a small opening at the top of the tower. Black goo flies out in all directions, and from what I can see it looks like a black structure that's made to be like a nest is on the inside. I dodge the flying goo and soar inside, the terrible smell hitting me like a bullet. I immediately pinch my nose closed and force myself to stay on my feet. Shouting her name wouldn't really help, but I have a weapon so why the hell not? Cliché horror movie here I come! "Caira!" I scream, looking around the darkness. "I'll let her go," a male voice says in an almost demonic tone. "Oh really? I don't buy it," I spit back. "I will if you do me a favor," he growls back. "And what is this favor?" I ask, slowly advancing towards the direction of the voice. "Drop your weapon and release her with your bare hands. After that, I want you to tell me how to stop the hunters from killing us. It may not sound like much, but it means a lot to us." I nod and drop the launcher, feeling suddenly on edge.

"Where is she?" I ask, slowly creeping forward. "Right in front of you," he snaps back. "Caira?" I ask, looking around the darkness. I hear a muffled scream to my right and swing my head around, and all I see is a black wall. I squint my eyes and see white fabric gently sticking out. "Caira! Oh, my god! I'm getting you out, don't worry!" I pull out a tracking dart and stab at the black goo until it becomes loose and I start to pull at it. I grab the edges with both of my hands and _pull._ The goo peels back and I almost fall over from the force. I look up at the wall and see Caira's face, her breathing fast, revealed. "Caira!" I say, peeling away the rest of the hardened goo. Her small shape falls into my arms and she softly cries tears of relief against my shoulder. "I n-never thought I would see you again," she stammers, holding me tightly. "I would die without you, I couldn't just let you go," I reply, closing my eyes. "Now since you've done that, I would like to know how to stop the monsters' extinction from that Forim chemical," the male voice echoes. "There's no way to stop it. Forim is too powerful. Hiding is the only solution," Caira says, backing away from me.

"Why would we hide! Why not fight our days out! I promised her freedom if you tell me how to stop it!" he hisses back. "The only solution I can think of is breaking the Forim supply in the Refueling Tower," I say, staring at Caira's messy black hair. "He's right. That may actually work. Without a supply to the Forim we have no fuel to kill you," Caira says, picking up her launcher and throwing the main grenade out on the cave floor. "You can have this small supply to study, but don't touch it. It _will_ kill you," Caira finishes, dropping the healing launcher too. "Thank you. You may leave," the male says calmly, his voice echoing off into the distance. "Let's go home darling," I whisper into her hair and she giggles. "My jetpacks broken," she giggles back. I swoop her off her feet and we fly down from the Refueling Tower where the others are standing on the ground panting. Monster corpses are everywhere and due to the massive amount of healing buoys deployed, I can tell it was a long and hard fight for all of us. But the worst is over. Now we can go home.

"Thank you. It was very hard to do this, not to mention illegal. We saved her and ended quite a few of the monsters lives with no casualties. Thank you so much," I say, putting Caira down as we walk to our ship hand in hand. "This is amazing," Caira whispers to me as the wind practically carries all of us away.

~After a stern talking to by Cabot~

~Caira's PoV~

"I'm going to take a quick shower. Unless you want to go first?" Abe asks, taking off his hat and throwing his armor on his bed. His room is so much nicer than mine. I don't have a shower, only a bath tub and a sink and a toilet. Basic bathroom, but I'm not complaining. He's alive, I'm alive, we can finally speak again, _feel_ each other again. This is the best feeling in my life. "No, it's alright, just go and I'll take off my armor," I reply, throwing off my hat that somehow stayed on during this mess. He nods gratefully and slips into the bathroom. I throw off my armor like I said and lay down in his bed, feeling comfortable for the first time in a long time. The shower water springs on and the water sounds are music to my ears. I smile and close my eyes, feeling warm on the inside. I know what I need to do.

I slip out of _all_ of my clothes, leaving them next to Abe's and slip inside of the bathroom, the shower smoke comforting me even more. Though he hasn't noticed that I entered yet, he has already begun to wash his hair. I silently close the door and walk up behind him. The shower is a stand-up shower, the glass surrounding it is filled with steam, so he can barely see me anyway. "I love you," I whisper and I open the door. He jumps and gasps but as soon as he sees my face he relaxes a bit, but he's still stiff. "Caira, I-" he starts, but his eyes are wide at the sight of my bare skin. "Just," I start, closing the door and pressing my chest to his. "Just kiss me," I finish, smiling warmly. He weakly laughs and presses his mouth to mine, our lips fit perfectly together, even with the water rushing all around us. I wrap my arms around his neck, his arms are around my waist as we press closer to each other. This is how it always was. This is how it will always be.

I could never ask for anything else. We just stay like that the whole time, in each-others' arms, kissing the worries away.

 **Hey! Hey you! Thanks for reading yet another chapter of Caira and Abe. I told you this would be out by Saturday! I do have some things going on Sunday, but with any luck I'll have the next chapter out by Tuesday or Wednesday, if I'm not lucky Thursday or Friday. Only nine more chapters left! Then the month break where I do another fanfic then book 2 comes out! As usual, thank you for the positive feedback. Everyone has left reviews that made me want to write more and more each day, and it means a lot more than you think, so I do truly want to thank you. Well enough talk! Time to re-read the last paragraph because you ship Caira and Abe so much!**


	19. Chapter 17

Chapter 17!  
Caira's PoV

"I really needed that," I say jokingly as we plop down on the bed, still slightly wet from the shower. "Well we did two things you're going to have to be more specific. The whole make-out session or the shower?" Abe replies with a chuckle. "I don't know. I think I may have enjoyed the shower more," I say jokingly. He rolls on top of me and presses down on my shoulders with my hands, his eyebrows raised in a perfect angle. "Are you sure?" he asks, inching closer. "Now that you ask, yes, I am sure," I whisper. "I'll believe that when I'm dead," he whispers back, roughly kissing me. He twirls my wet hair between his fingers and I bend into his body, the heat in my cheeks spreading all across my face. "Maybe we won't get interrupted this time," I say against his lips. He moans in agreement and removes his lips from mine and starts to travel downwards. He kisses my neck gently, but after about a minute he softly bites the skin. "Good thing we didn't get into clothes yet, right?" I gasp out as he travels even further down. I feel his lips _everywhere._ He's literally kissing every single part of me. I'm lost in my thoughts, but I feel him nod against my chest. His facial hair lightly grazes over my bare skin, which shouldn't feel good but hell, it _does._ His bare hands slide down my legs and I gasp, but force myself to relax. I've never been fully exposed before, but this feels so natural. Like we've done this a million times before.

"This is so weird," I accidentally say out loud. He stops kissing my lower body and meets my gaze, his eyes full of curiosity. God damn eyes! Abe why the hell do you have to be so perfect! "I hope in a good way?" he says. I nod, "in the best way possible." He lightly chuckles, "I'm guessing you've never been fully exposed to anyone before. If that's the case, then I'll be slower." I nod, but immediately hate myself for doing it. _Then I'll be slower._ God, damn it I'm an idiot. "Maybe we shouldn't rush right into this. I know I'm your lord and savior but you don't need to thank me _this_ much," he replies with humor in his tone. I roll my eyes playfully and shove him off of me. "Maybe someone else should run the show," I reply in a playful tone, shoving him to the edge of the bed with me now on top of him. "I like the sound of that," he replies, his eyes now looking excited. I press my lips to his as hard as I can and he gasps in shock against my force, but he closes his eyes and embraces it. Our bodies perfectly fit together as we kiss, his legs rubbing slightly against mine, our arms fighting for dominance. I pull back for a slight second to laugh and he opens his eyes, scanning my body in awe. "You are absolutely perfect," he says, running his hand down my shoulder. "I could say the same to you," I say, leaning closer to him. "Wait," he says, putting his finger in between our lips. "I'm serious about what I said Caira. Maybe we shouldn't rush. We haven't even established our relationship yet. We just kind of kissed and went from there. Why don't we go on a date? Tonight, if you'd like," he says, slowly moving his finger away. He does have a good point. Time to sit down with Abe and just talk and relax? Sign me the fuck up. "Okay, I like that idea," I whisper back, swinging myself off of the bed.

I throw on some relatively nice clothes and hear Abe shuffling behind me to button his black tuxedo. Wait, wait, wait. _Tuxedo?_ Is that what I'm seeing? _Abe_ in a _tuxedo?_ Okay so I may have a nice black V-neck long-sleeved shirt on and jeans that fit me just right, but I'm trying not to die of laughter here. Why does a cowboy have a tuxedo anyway? Come on Abe! "Damn," I say, leaning against the doorframe as he steps forward, his tux looking absolutely stunning on him. "I could say the same," he says, scanning me as if I still didn't have any clothes on. "Dinner on a ship. Romantic," I say sarcastically as he sweeps by me and opens the door. "Where else is there to go?" I shrug and walk out, hearing his room door slamming shut behind me. "Think anyone will laugh?" he asks as we join hands and walk down the hallway to the dining area.

"Maybe," I say with a giggle. "Well I know you won't care," he replies as we approach the end of the hallway. Another door lies in our path and Abe effortlessly opens it, revealing a beautiful dining hall that I've been in a million times. With Abe at my side, it feels more beautiful than ever. I step inside and look in awe at the ceiling high above the ground, the round metal tables with basic chairs surrounding them, the metal ground that have been cleaned recently. Everything is so plain yet perfect. "You two on a date or something?" Hank asks, approaching us with a mop in his hands. "You know it," Abe says as Hank scans over the two of us. "Perfect timing," he replies with a heart-warming smile. He nods to us before turning around and walking away, making me smile at the kindness of the world. Yesterday was a disaster for me. I was trapped and alone, today, however, I'm free. Really free. I can rest in Abe's arms forever as the last day of evacuation takes place. We've been here for what feels like years, but now, we're safe. Abe and I can be together, hunting monsters and doing science, something I didn't even think about a month ago.

Abe snaps me out of my thoughts by pointing to a very nice and clean table for two a few feet away from us. I nod and we walk towards it, and I can already feel the stares resting on us. I turn my head to scan the area as we walk, and I notice that there are ten people in this room; and eight out of the ten are staring at us. Cabot, Jack, Kala, Lazarus, Slim, Sunny, Emet, and Bucket. Wait, wait, wait. _Lazarus, Slim, and Sunny?_ What the hell? Lazarus is only on the ship for one reason. To resurrect fallen warriors. I turn my head slightly and fall to my knees the second I see it. Parnell and Val, sitting together. Breathing, smiling, laughing, _living._ I hold my shaking hand to my mouth and stifle my sobs, smiling with joy. I feel Abe's hands on my shoulders, lifting me up and I gladly follow his embrace and stand. It almost feels like he's lifting me up to heaven. "Val and Parnell," I whisper, sprinting over to the two tables that are occupied by the crew.

As soon as I reach the tables, Parnell and Val turn their heads to see me and their eyes widen in surprise. "I would punish everyone for going after you, but there were no casualties and Abe proved my ass wrong. I never thought I'd say this, but thank you for taking a risk for all of us Caira. I called Lazarus to save them. Luckily, he was just in time to save Parnell, he was just about to slip forever," Cabot says as Parnell and Val run over to me, wrapping their arms around me in a tight hug. I squeeze my eyes shut and accept the embrace gratefully. "You saved my friends, that's all that matters," I half-whisper to Lazarus. "Thank you," I say to him, opening my eyes to see him nod. "You guys have done so much for me. How can I ever thank you enough?" I ask, slowly backing away from my friends. "You saved Shear Caira; the monsters, they're almost gone. I'm sorry for everything I've done to you," Sunny says from behind Slim.

I nod my gratitude and return to Abe's side, feeling him wrap his hand around mine. "You two deserve a night to yourselves," Slim says, putting his hand over Sunny's. "Thank you all," I say, turning with Abe to sit down. "Well, that was amazing," Abe says, looking right into my eyes. "All I could see these past few days was Parnell, Sunny, Slim, Val, and you. I couldn't imagine a better life. You were all there for me- well maybe not Sunny- but that's besides the point. I really don't know how to thank everyone," I say, turning my gaze away from his eyes. "You already have thanked us enough. You just need to see that, feel that. This is your life Caira, you save people despite how much you may not realize it," he replies, I can practically feel his breath on me. "I always think that I can save everyone and everything, but I know that's not true deep down. I'm sorry I dragged you into so much of my shit," I reply, feeling his gaze burning into me.

"Well, some of your shit was good," he replies, I can practically feel his smile lighting up the room. At my silence he sighs, "what's wrong?" I snap my gaze up and see his worried face. "Seeing them alive- I'm happy, don't get me wrong- but it feels wrong. They died, hell, Val was happy when she died, maybe it should stay that way you know? And stop worrying about me! Parnell is living and breathing and you didn't say shit!" I reply, slightly raising my voice. He almost jumps back at my harsh tone, but he still stares into my eyes, his eyes full of curiosity. "I do care about him, but you're right; they died, they shouldn't be back," Abe says. "Maybe we should go," I say, standing up. "Caira, come on. We just got here. Relax, it'll be okay," Abe says, standing up with me. "How would you know whether or not it'll be okay? Abe, I could handle Sunny coming back since she wouldn't be around, but now seeing two people I had to learn to deal with being gone back? No, it isn't right and it won't be okay!" I say, storming off without waiting for Abe to reply to me.

I run down the hallway and arrive at my room, throwing open the door and slamming it shut. I lean against the door and slump down to the ground. I had to see both of my friends die, and now they're back because of miracle man? No, something's wrong. They didn't even speak. What the hell is going on? I fight my way out of my tight black shirt and throw on my white medic shirt that was sitting on top of my dresser. I sit back down, feeling a deep sense of loss in my mind. Sunny, Parnell, Val, who's next, the monsters? "Caira!" I hear Lazarus call, pounding on my door. I hop up and fix my shirt, then throw open the door, seeing Lazarus's familiar pale face standing there. "Yes?" I ask, forcing my voice to stay steady and polite. "I'm sorry, I really am. May I come in dear?" he asks, his voice full of sorrow and understanding.

I nod and stand aside, letting him walk by me and into my mess of a room. "I understand how you're feeling. My friends came back to life because of me before, and I was happy for a few seconds, then realized that they cheated death. That's not right," he explains, turning to face me. "I'm grateful, I really am, but Val was happy when she died, she won't be happy living again. She wanted the missions to end. She was so happy, I saw it. It just isn't right," I groan, slightly closing the door. "Don't take it out on Abe, he did nothing wrong." "He did everything right in fact," I immediately reply. "Yes, but maybe there's a solution for all of this," Lazarus says, turning to scan my room. "What do you mean?" I ask, slowly backing away, my feet sinking into the ground.

"We can kill Val and Parnell again. It'll be set right. I was forced to bring them back, by the way. I didn't want to do this," he says, regret in his voice. "No, we can't commit murder!" I say, not bothering to hide the shock in my voice. My eyes widen as he snaps his body around, his Lazarus device suddenly on. "By the way, Sunny wasn't the one trying to kill you," he says, his device glowing in the light of my room. "What the hell," I whisper as Lazarus's form suddenly disappears and he is replaced with Kala. Shapeshifting? How is that even possible? "Sunny was a little," Kala says, waving her fingers around, "possessed." She smiles at my shock, and I stumble out of the room, but she springs after me, hitting my foot which sends me crashing to the ground. "Get the hell away from me!" I shout, fighting my foot out of her grasp.

"You're mine monster killer!" she hisses, her kraken-like eye glowing with her words. It's not her. It's the monster. My suspicions are correct. I knew she would be a problem. "Get away!" I scream, hoping someone will hear me. I rip my foot away from her and stagger to my feet and she does the same. "Kala! Fight it! The monster is controlling you! Fight it!" I yell, backing away slowly. Her eyes scan me like prey, and within a few seconds she pounces at me, her hands landing over my neck, knocking me down. "Fight it!" I choke out, her hands gradually increasing the pressure on my neck. "I don't want," I pause, coughing out breaths, desperately trying to break away from her, "to hurt you Kala." I feel my pistol in the back of my pants, but I know I can't reach it. "Deal with it," she hisses in my face, squeezing harder on my neck. I feel her weight on mine, crushing me, but, there's less weight on my left leg than the rest of my body. Goodbye Kala.

With all of my strength I swing my leg out from underneath her grasp and kick her in the stomach, her grip loosens, giving me enough time to push her off of me. I cough and stagger to my feet, pulling out my pistol. "Don't," I start, pointing the pistol at her head, "fucking move," I finish, backing away to catch my breath. She smiles and it almost looks like she's going to break out laughing. "Too late," she whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear her. She moves in a flash and she's suddenly next to me, and she smiles, pulling my feet out and I crash against the ground, but she should know that I'm smarter than that. I roll away and look up just in time to see Kala right in front of me. Without even thinking I pull the trigger, and she gasps and staggers back. "You bitch," she whispers, falling to the ground, holding her chest.

"I didn't want to, but you gave me no choice. I'm so sorry," I whisper, dropping the pistol. She laughs. "Fucking pathetic. I thought you were smart," she removes her hand and no blood or evidence of a wound is there. "No!" I scream as she moves like lightning and takes the pistol. "How!" I gasp as she swipes her feet across mine, making me lose my balance. "Kala! Fight!" I scream, feeling the wall behind me. "Hell no!" she hisses, springing at me. I dodge just in time and jump at her, taking her off of her feet and onto the ground. This time it's my turn. I shift my weight to hold her down and I punch her repeatedly across the face. She spits out blood after my fifth punch, "you done yet?" "Caira!" Cabot yells from the end of the hallway.

"Cabot! Thank god! She just _attacked_ me!" Kala screams from underneath me. I look up and let my weight on her slump, and I feel her wraith hand on my neck, and she pulls my ear down to her mouth. "Du skruvas nu," she whispers, then she pushes me off of her. I recognize that she spoke in Swedish, but I never learned the full language. I only ever learned Spanish, German, French, and Latin. "No! She attacked me!" I say, holding my hands up to show I won't resist as he charges at me. "I heard a gunshot and assumed the worst. Caira listen, we'll check the security cameras but for now both of you are going down to our emergency prison cells," Cabot says, tying my hands behind my back. I look back at Kala, who gives me the finger with her normal hand as Cabot walks over to her. "Caira?" I hear Abe ask at the end of the hall. Oh great, now he's going to hate me too.

"She attacked me," I start as Abe approaches me, his tuxedo has been replaced with his hunting gear. "Why are you tied up then?" he asks, looking at Kala who has a bloody mouth. "Because apparently, we're both on trial here. He's checking the security cameras, then he'll see that I'm innocent," I growl as Cabot motions us forward. "No talking to either of them until this is cleared up," Cabot says calmly to Abe as we continue to walk towards the elevator.

~Detention cells~

"I hate you for the record," Kala growls at me through the silence. "I noticed," I growl back. "This is going to be a long day, but don't worry. I won't hurt you too bad," she says with a laugh, and I turn to see Kala sitting in the cell next to mine, her hands untied. "No," I whisper as she starts tearing away the bars that separate us.

 **Sup nerds. Personally, it's been a bad week. Lots of problems popping up randomly, so I do apologize for this chapter being late. But! Happy Easter! It may be late and you may not celebrate it, but it's the thought that counts! Well anyway I wanted to tell all of you something that could be bad or good for you. At the beginning of this chapter, you saw some major Caira and Abe action, but that's probably the limit for my writing, as in, I'm not writing smut! Not for this, maybe next book if you guys want it I'll do it, but not right now. Please tell me what you think! Peace! ~Caira**


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